''Great World of Sound'' is a 2007
comedy
Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...
film directed by
Craig Zobel
Roger Craig Zobel is an American filmmaker and actor whose work includes music videos, film, and television. He has directed the films '' Compliance'' (2012), ''Z for Zachariah'' (2015), and '' The Hunt'' (2020). On TV he has directed episodes of ...
. Zobel won
Breakthrough Director at the
Gotham Awards
The Gotham Awards () are American film awards, presented annually to the makers of independent films at a ceremony in New York City, the city first nicknamed "Gotham" by native son Washington Irving, in an issue of ''Salmagundi'', published o ...
and the film also won the Grand Jury Award at the
Atlanta Film Festival
The Atlanta Film Festival (ATLFF) is a long-running, international film festival held in Atlanta, Georgia operated by the Atlanta Film Society, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Started in 1976 and occurring every spring, the festival shows a ...
.
Plot
Martin, an introverted new transplant to
Charlotte
Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...
, North Carolina, gets roped into a music industry talent scouting scheme called Great World of Sound. GWS is an outfit that engages in the practice of
song sharking, a
con where amateur musicians pay record companies to be produced. The scheme involves placing classified ads in the newspaper offering "free auditions" to aspiring musicians. The musicians are asked to meet at shabby motel rooms where they are persuaded to make an investment in their career, presumably to cover the costs of recording a
demo
Demo, usually short for demonstration, may refer to:
Music and film
*Demo (music), a song typically recorded for reference rather than release
* ''Demo'' (Behind Crimson Eyes), a 2004 recording by the band Behind Crimson Eyes
* ''Demo'' (Deafhea ...
that will be sent to radio stations. New recruits are told by Shank, the head of GWS, that if they work hard and do good business, they can expect to make $1,000 a month. Martin is paired with Clarence, an outgoing middle-aged man. The unlikely duo turn out to be a successful team for GWS, but this becomes threatened by Martin's suspicions about GWS's true nature and his efforts to help one performer and her "New National Anthem."
Cast
*
Pat Healy as Martin
*
Kene Holliday
Kenneth Earl Holliday (born June 25, 1949) is an American actor of stage, film, and television. He is known for his role as Ben Matlock's original private investigator, Tyler Hudson, on '' Matlock'', and as Sgt. Curtis Baker on ''Carter Country ...
as Clarence
*
Rebecca Mader
Rebecca Leigh Mader (born 24 April 1977) is an English actress, best known for her roles as Charlotte Lewis in the ABC series '' Lost'', and as Zelena, the Wicked Witch of the West, on ABC's ''Once Upon a Time'', for which she garnered criti ...
as Pam
* Robert Longstreet as Layton
* Tricia Paoluccio as Gloria
* John Baker as Shank
Production
The idea for the film originated from stories Craig Zobel's father would tell him about his experiences working as a
radio DJ in Atlanta in the late 1970s. Zobel said his dad worked "for a company similar to the one I ended up creating for the film–they went from town to town sharking people for money under the promise that they would make people famous in the music industry. The thing that I was really drawn to initially, was that the company also manipulated their 'record producers' into thinking they were helping the people."
Zobel also said he was inspired by the
Albert and David Maysles
Albert Maysles (November 26, 1926 – March 5, 2015) and his brother David Maysles (January 10, 1931 – January 3, 1987; ) were an American documentary filmmaking team known for their work in the Direct Cinema style. Their best-known films i ...
1969 documentary ''
Salesman
Sales are activities related to selling or the number of goods sold in a given targeted time period. The delivery of a service for a cost is also considered a sale.
The seller, or the provider of the goods or services, completes a sale in r ...
'', which is about door-to-door Bible salesmen.
For the audition scenes, people who truly thought they were trying out for a record deal participated. The scenes between the lead actors and the unsuspecting musicians were recorded with hidden cameras. After Zobel explained to the hopefuls that their scenes were for a film and got their consent, the footage was integrated into the final cut, resulting in a blend of fact and fiction.
Reception
The film received generally positive reviews, with an 81% rating based on 43 reviews on
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
.
The site's critics consensus reads, "''The Great World Of Sound'' is a charming and unassuming film, thanks to breakthrough performances from Pat Healy and Kene Holiday."
On
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
it received an average score of 72 based on 13 reviews.
Roger Ebert awarded it 3 out of 4 stars and called it "a confident, sure-handed exercise focusing on the
American Dream, turned nightmare."
A.O. Scott
Anthony Oliver Scott (born July 10, 1966) is an American journalist and cultural critic. He has been chief film critic for ''The New York Times'' since 2004, a title he shares with Manohla Dargis.
Early life
Scott was born on July 10, 1966 in ...
of ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' wrote "Mr. Holliday and Mr. Healy are nimble performers, and they help to lift ''Great World of Sound'' above its central gimmick, turning it into a subtle, funny and depressing observation of unspoken race and class tensions."
Though Scott found Zobel's practice of featuring real auditionees to be ethically hazy, he acknowledged the scenes "contribute to the downbeat authenticity that is the most striking feature" of the film.
Awards and nominations
At the
Gotham Awards
The Gotham Awards () are American film awards, presented annually to the makers of independent films at a ceremony in New York City, the city first nicknamed "Gotham" by native son Washington Irving, in an issue of ''Salmagundi'', published o ...
, the film was nominated for
Best Feature,
Breakthrough Director, and
Breakthrough Actor (for Holliday). Zobel won for Breakthrough Director. At the
Independent Spirit Awards, it was nominated for
Best First Feature and
Best Supporting Male (for Holliday). At the
Atlanta Film Festival
The Atlanta Film Festival (ATLFF) is a long-running, international film festival held in Atlanta, Georgia operated by the Atlanta Film Society, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Started in 1976 and occurring every spring, the festival shows a ...
, the film won the Narrative Grand Jury Prize and Pat Healy won the Grand Jury Award for Best Actor .
References
External links
*
*
*
*
Great World of Sound' at
Magnolia Pictures
Magnolia Pictures is an American film distributor. It is a subsidiary of Mark Cuban and Todd Wagner's 2929 Entertainment.
Magnolia was formed in 2001 by Bill Banowsky and Eamonn Bowles, and specializes in both foreign and independent films. Ma ...
{{Craig Zobel
2007 films
2007 comedy films
2007 directorial debut films
2007 independent films
American buddy comedy films
American comedy films
American road movies
Films directed by Craig Zobel
Films about con artists
Films shot in North Carolina
Magnolia Pictures films
2000s buddy comedy films
2000s road movies
2000s English-language films
2000s American films