As far as story telling goes, the local documentary based upon Havergal Brian's infamous piece does a very good job. Surrounded by a cinema full of music pure-breds, The Curse of the Gothic Symphony was met was an astounding round of applause, to which the filmmaker Veronica Fury was thankful.
The conjoined Fury Productions and Screen Queensland effort depicts the five year struggle of 4MBS's broadcaster Gary Thorpe's dream to perform what the Guinness World Records deem to be the largest, longest and most complex symphony ever written. The documentary tends to focus on the enormous effort of compiling the likes of 500 choristers, four complete brass bands and a symphony orchestra of 150 plus. The two hour long monster of a piece had only been performed four previous times in public, giving the aptly named curse some backing.
At the preview, when asked if the curse was real, Fury burst into an ecstatic "YES." It is refreshing to see directors/filmmakers who get involved and become a part of their own work, which Fury and Thorpe evidently did.
From a filmmaker's perspective, the cinematography at times seemed forced and it looked to be that the production were short of vision. The use of time lapse footage to introduce new locations worked at the start, however became a little repetitive by the end of the production. Contrary to this, the way the editors reproduced Brain's lifestyle in a comical (near cartoon-like) way was quite amusing and provided much needed relief from the hard, descriptive shots that a documentary normally entails.
A documentary is supposed to tell a story. The medium establishes a perspective, then re-creates the story from that perspective. From a storytelling perspective, The Curse of the Gothic Symphony, I believe, was an overwhelming success.
The production is running at Event Cinemas at Chermside for the next two weeks and I would strongly suggest seeing this film which is a tribute to the Arts in Brisbane.
Three and a half stars.
The conjoined Fury Productions and Screen Queensland effort depicts the five year struggle of 4MBS's broadcaster Gary Thorpe's dream to perform what the Guinness World Records deem to be the largest, longest and most complex symphony ever written. The documentary tends to focus on the enormous effort of compiling the likes of 500 choristers, four complete brass bands and a symphony orchestra of 150 plus. The two hour long monster of a piece had only been performed four previous times in public, giving the aptly named curse some backing.
At the preview, when asked if the curse was real, Fury burst into an ecstatic "YES." It is refreshing to see directors/filmmakers who get involved and become a part of their own work, which Fury and Thorpe evidently did.
From a filmmaker's perspective, the cinematography at times seemed forced and it looked to be that the production were short of vision. The use of time lapse footage to introduce new locations worked at the start, however became a little repetitive by the end of the production. Contrary to this, the way the editors reproduced Brain's lifestyle in a comical (near cartoon-like) way was quite amusing and provided much needed relief from the hard, descriptive shots that a documentary normally entails.
A documentary is supposed to tell a story. The medium establishes a perspective, then re-creates the story from that perspective. From a storytelling perspective, The Curse of the Gothic Symphony, I believe, was an overwhelming success.
The production is running at Event Cinemas at Chermside for the next two weeks and I would strongly suggest seeing this film which is a tribute to the Arts in Brisbane.
Three and a half stars.
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