Surprisingly incoherent and boring

Excellent, a Must See

It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

an ambitious but ultimately ineffective debut endeavor.

From director Phil Grabsky we learn that he wanted to find out how much truth there was to the movie Amadeus. I hope he hadn't. Amadeus may be fiction, but it was a passionate, captivating and an emotionally deep film about Mozart. This highly praised documentary however is a soulless, trivial and dull recounting of Mozarts life through quotes of his letters, interlaced with comments of experts. It has no dramatic exposition, no original approach and terrible shots of modern day Salzburg, Vienna and random people on streets. There are way too many directors, opera singers and historians, who all have there say, not always too interesting and sometimes contradicting each other, who are so closely framed you instinctively withdraw from your screen. Apart from knowing the chronological order of Mozart's works, I have no better view on the man itself: it's a long enumeration of dates and facts. The only interesting footage is when musicians explain the emotional impact of Mozart's music. After which some German prof is allowed to share his platitudes again.When Mozart dies we see a string of shots of snow on trees, that's the level of creativity Grabsky is able to produce. Ouch.

I thought In Search of Mozart was an outstanding documentary, not only did it feature some great musicians it also took the viewer on a journey through Mozart's life which I found insightful and comprehensive. I would loved to have seen more performances from the contributors maybe as an bonus on the DVD yet saying that the DVD is just over two hours long so its deffiently worth the money. I noticed on Director Phil Grabsky's IMDb profile that In Search of Beethoven is currently in production which i'm really looking forward to. Does anyone have any idea when it is going to be released? It would be great to see it on the big screen.

In Search of Mozart is a really poorly directed documentary that gives a straightforward if somewhat defensive biography of Mozart. Director Phil Grabsky engages in some off-putting extreme close-ups of interviewees/performers (I don't really need to get nose-hair close to them) and the 129-minute movie is unevenly paced. It spends a lot of time on the birth and sudden (if common at the time) death of Mozart's first baby, then barely mentions his father's death in passing. It does a couple of things well. The musicians and their performances are choice (except for Don Giovanni). There are certainly interpretations of Mozart's music that are far worse out there. Best of all are the musicians explaining how certain pieces work while they play select portions. The movie could have used more of this in even greater depth. A deep analysis of Piano Concerto No. 20 could have been sublime.

"In Search of Mozart" is an utterly fascinating documentary which brings the brilliant, sometimes tragic, bawdy and all too human composer to life. Using a combination of his letters read evocatively by leading actors, hundreds of musical clips of orchestras and singers, interviews with scholars and musicians, as well as present day footage of the very long roads he traveled (he was on tour about 1/3 of the days of his short life), Mozart becomes as real as if he sat down to dinner with you. I had the privilege to see this film at Lincoln Center where people laughed and cried and crowded around after to buy the DVD. A film for those who know nothing about Mozart to those who have studied him all their lives.