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Theremin - An Electronic OdysseyRating:
Release Date: 24 July, 2001 Retail Price: $14.95 OUR Price: $12.99 You SAVE: $1.96! Cast: Complete Cast (12 total) |
Theremin - An Electronic Odyssey Reviews
A surprisingly delightful portrait of someone you should know
The is a fire-rate biographical documentary of one of the most interesting individuals of the past figure, someone whose work most people will know even if they have never heard of. Leon Theremin was a Russian who escaped to the United States where he live, worked, and married until he was abducted in the mid-1930s by the KGB and returned to the Soviet Union to work on electronic surveillance equipment. For decades his fate was unknown, but with the downfall of the Iron Curtain and reestablishment of unfettered contact between east and west, the filmmakers were able both to fill out the story of what had happened to Theremin, gather information for this documentary, and enable a reconnection between Theremin and his lost friends in New York.
Theremin's claim to fame rests upon the highly unusual electric instrument, referred usually only by the inventor's last name: the Theremin. The instrument is made of no moving parts, but only some coils and modulators that create an energy field that can be manipulated by objects (usually hands) moving through it, and altering the sound that is thereby produced. Although the instrument has a wide range and can be used with a variety of musical styles, it is most commonly associated with Sci-fi sound tracks from the 1950s and in the Beach Boys' great hit "Good Vibrations." The Theremin is what is used to produce that high-pitched and incredibly eerie drone. If this still doesn't ring any bells, just thing of the instrument that parallels the voices as the Beach Boys sing "I'm feeling good vibrations."
Brian Wilson is one of many individuals interviewed during the course of the film, and his appearance, like much of his recent career is one that generated great respect and a feeling of sadness. I have had friends struggle with mental illness, but none is such a public way as Brian Wilson, and I have just enormous respect for the courage he exhibits in continue with a public career despite some obvious psychological challenges. The rest of the people interviewed run the course of friends from his early days in New York to various musicians who either specialized on the instrument or who used it in movies or elsewhere.
By no conceivable means does THEREMIN - AN ELECTRONIC ODYSSEY deal with one of the great stories of the century, nor does it tie up with the stories of many other people. But it is documents the usual contribution that one man made to 20th century music, and he stands as an example of the tragedy that can take place when a totalitarian state places the needs of the corporate above the needs of the individual. Little is spent on his life in the Soviet Union in the documentary, but he was taken away from his wife, an African-American professional dancer, in the 1930s, and he never saw her again. Although that part is not dwelt upon, the sadness of breaking apart a family so that a man could be forced to design the Soviet bug just seems tragic.
I have to vote this one of the most unexpectedly delightful documentaries that I have ever seen. When I saw it, I had absolutely minimal expectations, but instead I responded to it with complete delight.
Damn good
Well if you like the theremin, this is an absolute must have. This movie is so entertaining and tells you so much, all you wanna know. It's worth every penny. Next step I'm gonna buy me a theremin!
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