In Search of Mozart
Capsule by J.R. Jones From the Chicago Reader
Milos Forman's Amadeus (1984) is so ingrained in the popular imagination that its portrait of Mozart may never be dispelled, but this thorough and insightful 2006 documentary presents a more rounded and compelling view of the high-spirited genius. Director Phil Grabsky crisscrossed Europe looking for Mozart's old haunts, interviewing classical performers and scholars, and filming concerts and operas; the resulting narrative acknowledges Mozart's divine gift but also details the extraordinary tutelage he enjoyed as a child and the commercial realities that shaped his career. Though Grabsky sticks to the standard talking-heads format, his numerous commentators--among them Roger Norrington, Adam Fischer, Janine Jansen, Rene Jacobs, Ian Bostridge, Renee Fleming, Lang Lang, and Jonathan Miller--express as much wonder as insight, articulating not only what Mozart brought to the music but what each of them takes away from it. 128 min.
