Glass: A Portrait of Philip in Twelve Parts (2007)

Academy Award®-nominated director Scott Hicks ("Shine") documents an eventful year in the career and personal life of distinguished Western classical composer Philip Glass as he interacts ... See full summary »

Director:

Scott Hicks

Stars:

Philip Glass, Holly Critchlow, Chuck Close

Nominated for 1 Primetime Emmy. Another 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Philip Glass	...	Self
Holly Critchlow	...	Self - Philip Glass' fourth wife
Chuck Close	...	Self
JoAnne Akalaitis	...	Self - Philip Glass' first wife
Kurt Munkacsi	...	Self - producer
Scott Hicks	...	Self (voice)
Maki Namekawa	...	Self - concert pianist
Marlow Glass	...	Self - Philip Glass' son
Cameron Glass	...	Self - Philip Glass' son
Dennis Russell Davies	...	Self
Sheppie Abramowitz	...	Self - Philip Glass' sister
Marty Glass	...	Self - Philip Glass' brother
Stokes Howell	...	Self
Rebecca Litman	...	Self
Zack Glass	...	Self - Philip Glass' son

Storyline

Academy Award®-nominated director Scott Hicks ("Shine") documents an eventful year in the career and personal life of distinguished Western classical composer Philip Glass as he interacts with a number of friends and collaborators, who include Chuck Close, Ravi Shankar, and Martin Scorsese.

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Plot Keywords:

composer | collaborator | nova scotia | new york city | concert footage | 

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Taglines:

In July 2005, filmmaker Scott Hicks started shooting a documentary about the composer Philip Glass to celebrate his 70th anniversary in 2007.

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Genres:

Documentary | Biography | Music

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Did You Know?

Trivia

This documentary's director Scott Hicks became a fan of the work of composer Philip Glass after he went to a midnight screening of Koyaanisqatsi (1982) in 1984 at the behest of his son.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Philip Glass: [voiceover] I never was a captive of other people's ideas about me. Whatever they thought, that didn't bother to me, I did what I wanted to, and um - I didn't care. I've been like that my whole life, and - it saved me a lot of trouble. Even when it came to writing music I didn't care what people thought. You know, there's a lot of music in the world, you don't have to listen to mine. There's Mozart, there's the Beatles, listen to something else! You don't have to listen to this. You...

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Connections

Referenced in Highly Strung: Featurette (2015)

User Reviews

Not a boring man, just a boring film

I thought the same as the above commenter--Glass is a great composer but not an interesting person (something that often happens with artists--it all goes into the work) until I heard him speak the following evening and he was perfectly interesting...because he was talking about MUSIC--something the director forgot to ask him about in the film. This is one of the most superficial biographical films I've seen, two hours of tedium, watching Glass make pizza, play with his kids, practice t'ai chi etc. his wife giving away her Internet password--while the music dipped in and out in tiny snippets. Glass deserves much much better.

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

Australia USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

18 April 2008 (USA)

Also Known As:

Glass: A Portrait of Philip in Twelve Parts

Filming Locations:

Australia

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$5,546, 20 April 2008

Gross USA:

$20,018

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$32,089

Company Credits

Production Co:

Independent Media, Kino Films, Mandalay Motion Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

119 min

Color:

Color