This is one of the best documentary I have ever seen. I loved it from very first scene till the last. Beautiful sounds, Amazing cinematography. You have to feel the sound to enjoy the movie. My best part of the movie was when she was explaining about Silence...Once of the heaviest sounds we have...and its kinda scary...and its beautiful in a way. I think only a true artist can understand this movie better. I liked the way she was exploring the possibilities wherever, whenever sound could be produced...it was more a like a child like curiosity...trying to understand what is this sound and how it touches me...vibrates me...inside out. And it was amazing she could find a rhythm in everything she touched.

After Thomas Riedelsheimer turned the film going public on it's ear with his portrait of Andy Goldsworthy in 'Rivers & Tides:Andy Goldsworthy Working With Time',he next turned his camera lens on Evelyn Glennie, a classically trained pianist,who lost something like 80% of her hearing at an early age. This would have swayed most "would be" musicians away from music,but not Glennie. She managed to switch from piano studies to percussion,as percussion instruments are louder than the piano. As a result,Evelyn Glennie has become one of the most respected (and busy) musicians around. There is a bounty of footage of her rehearsing for various performances,as well as film footage of her recording a CD with Fred Frith (who also contributed original music for 'Rivers & Tides'). The end results is a well crafted documentary that like Rivers & Tides is breath taking to look at,as well as to listen to. This film opened to both praise,as well as scorn (mostly from the hearing impaired community,who's main complaint was that the film had no subtitles to translate the spoken text). Still,a film to seek out. I eagerly await any & all future offerings by Thomas Riedelsheimer (and would also love to see any of his older films,as well). As is with 'Rivers & Tides',no MPAA rating,but nothing to offend anybody (unless one is adverse to new & experimental musics)

Boy, did I get suckered into watching this disappointing DVD. I should have remembered that when you see a ton of complimentary comments by critics all over the DVD cover, you can be almost guaranteed the film is a stinker. "A feast for senses" - New York Daily News, was the one that got me. Being someone who is in love with cinematography and has a decent surround system to enjoy good audio, this documentary intrigued me. "Filled with gorgeous music." - The Chicago Tribune. People - do not pay attention to these morons. Yes, there is some nice visuals in here but none of the music is beautiful unless you a huge fan of percussion (drums, mainly.) Yet, rarely do you think of someone beating on a snare drum as "gorgeous music."This is a story of a Scottish woman, Evelyn Glennie, who is almost deaf but has a tremendous appreciation for sounds, almost any kind of sound. She also is an outstanding percussionist. Since she has a major hearing problem, she has learned to "hear" through vibrations and hears more, as they would say, than we unimpaired people. Evelyn is definitely talented and unique. I wasn't impressed with the DVD but I was with her, and who wouldn't be?? She's an extraordinary human being. She loves to converse on the subject. Sometimes she's interesting, other times she goes on too long on a subject. The same applies to most of the "chapters" on this DVD. Some are good but most get tedious after the first half dozen. It's simply too repetitive and boring. If you doubt this, ask yourself: would I watch someone pounding a stick on some object for several minutes? That's what you have in many, many scenes here. Oh, the instruments and the sounds are all different, but it is anything but a "thrilling audio and visual experience." To sit through this for 100 minutes - now THAT is a challenge!

In this sensual meditation on the perception of sounds, the masterful compositions of Director Thomas Riedelsheimer frames the exquisite subtleties of subject Evelyn Glennie's percussion based improvisations, which at times produces a transcendent immersion into the essence of sound stimuli and the creative process no musical film has ever captured as well. Alas, the film works best when capturing Glennie's spiritual exaltations to noise- through the immersed directing we can raise our own perceptions of sight and sound simply by reflecting and relating to the character's rapturous posture as the rhythm she spontaneously concocts becomes more and more intense. It is in these sublime moments that Glennie's philosophy, which advocates silencing one's own chattering mind in order to hear the chorus of sounds we all play with together, comes to the fore. Unfortunately these notions are constantly watered down by the excessive use of environmental shots interspersed to show us how this woman perceives everyday sounds around her. I felt that the lack of narrative forced the filmmaker to put too much stock in capturing the surroundings, which definitely was appreciated at first, but ultimately much of the beautiful, amazingly detailed imagery did feel superficial and ended up making the film feel a little too light. As far as taking this piece as some sort of alternative concert video however, this is an experience not to be missed by anyone who even dabbles in instrumentation, as well as anyone who simply wants to feel...more...