Seymour: An Introduction

I wept, equally of joy and sadness, for most of an hour and forty minutes. Sit up front and go alone. See it at a theater only. This film is so quiet and delicate...and it just sneaks up on you and goes right through into your heart, gut, soul. It may be the most extraordinary film I've ever seen on the subject of artistry, creativity and its inner workings.....and I've see a few greats:(Frida, Turner, Vivian Maier, etc.)

'Seymour' is about devotion, love, inspiration. And it's big secret is that it GIVES THIS RIGHT TO YOU as you bear witness, if you let it get inside. You cannot go back into the world now. Well, not for a while. Not until you get over to the musical instrument, the pen or type, the camera, the canvas, the clay.

Ethan Hawke....what are you doing to us? The understated, magnificent director you have become! Thank you for this.

This is an exceptional documentary centering on Seymour Bernstein, the classical pianist, composer, and teacher. Now 88-years-old, he retired from concert appearances at age 50 to devote more time to teaching and mentoring others. Bernstein had me rather mesmerized with his distinctive tones, as he spins fascinating stories and anecdotes from his life, adding some quite profound words of wisdom that he's gathered over his lifetime.

The superb actor Ethan Hawke directs the documentary, and I read that he regards Bernstein as a mentor of his. Both men during the interviews, reveal some very personal aspects of their life, including stage fright and how to get fulfillment for the remainder of their time on this earth.

Overall, I was totally engaged, from start to finish, in this remarkable movie, and there's some wonderful classical music to enjoy as well.

This documentary, filled with beautiful music, is an étude of acclaimed concert pianist Seymour Bernstein and a joy, start to finish. Bernstein retired so he could pour his musical ideas into the vessels of his students. And not just musical ideas; his philosophy is that having access to emotion in music encourages access to emotion and satisfaction in other aspects of life. We see him providing pianists of all ages with just the right amount of subtle guidance to dramatically elevate their performances, encourage them to compose as well as play, and, apparently, achieve harmony in life in general. Scenes take place in the one-room apartment he's had for 40 years on the upper East Side of Manhattan, near Central Park, in various venues where former students interviewed him, NYU Master Classes, in the piano testing room of Steinway New York, and finally, its main floor rotunda, where he plays a concert to an audience of former students, colleagues, and fans. The interactions with students, former students, and other musicians are revealing, and none more so than his conversations with the film's director, actor Ethan Hawke. Hawke met Bernstein serendipitously at a dinner and discovered in him a person with whom he could discuss the anxieties of performance, and the disconnect between good work and success and Bernstein, with what seems to be characteristic generosity, shared his insights. He certainly did not reach his current eminence without his own challenges. When he was young, his father would say, "I have three daughters and a pianist," which felt like a rejection of him as a son and pained him mightily. As a young man, he served in the U.S. Army in Korea and teamed up with a talented violinist and a tenor and, despite their commanding officer's skepticism, put on a concert for the troops—most of whom had never heard "serious" or classical music before. "They wouldn't let us off the stage," Bernstein says with glee, even 60 years later. The concert was so successful a tour of front-line camps was arranged. The memory is also bitter, because Bernstein remembers the war dead, and the pain of seeing those body bags has hardly faded. Except for these memories, the movie is strongly up-beat, with a man doing what he loves and people (students, audiences, moviegoers) responding to his skill and passion. As Detroit News critic Tom Long says, "The great joy of the film, whether you know piano or not, is watching Bernstein teach." This is a man you will be glad you got to know. The film ends with a typically modest and inspiring Bernstein statement: "I never thought that, with my two hands, I could touch the sky."

Seymour: an Introduction is one of the most touching films I've watched. The title character, Seymour, is charming beyond words. He is beautifully portrayed by Ethan Hawke. The film provides candid interviews with former students and notables of the world of classical music. Each glimpse of this master teacher brings the audience closer to seeing a natural-born teacher in his element. Seymour has mastered the art of inspiring his students to reach the beyond their limits to create the best music they can. Seymour himself seems to magically sprinkle fairy dust on every piano he touches! He is an inspiration to both pianists and non-pianists everywhere. This film will, hopefully, in time, become a classic.

.....about a man who made it his life mission to feed others' souls through the study of music of great emotional richness, intellectual depth and beauty. A must see and a wonderful reprieve from the shallow, titillating stuff we are continually inundated by. Subtle camera angles, expert scene selections and gorgeous musical choices create a tempo to this movie that engages the watcher without doing all the work for him. Kudos to Ethan Hawke for recognizing the substance, wisdom and humanity of Seymour, for resisting the temptation to insert his ego into the story, and for allowing conversations that require the audience members (whether they play the piano or not) to exercise their minds, to think, consider, wonder, reflect about their own lives and passions. You may find yourself, like me, wanting to hear those kernels of wisdom and truth again and again, to deepen your understanding and glean more fully their meaning, and to be moved once more by Seymour's magical, beautiful artistry.