Great World of Sound

(Directed by Craig Zobel; US 2007, 106 min)

Review By Carolan Guernsey

Acclaimed at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival, this unique American indie plays like a mix of Glengarry Glen Ross and American Idol. A close-up look at the practice of ‘song sharking’, the story focuses on pensive Martin (Pat Healy) and garrulous Clarence (Kene Holliday), salesmen recruited by a shady record label to seek out new talent‚ and sell phony recording deals. At first oblivious to the scam, the duo soon realize they’re being conned just like the musicians. “Its sense of place, of lonely hotel rooms and fly-by-night offices decorated with spray-painted gold records, is as nicely observed as its morally compromised characters.” (Manohla Dargis, The New York Times).

Note courtesy Rochester Labor Film Series.

Why is it that anyone thinks they can hang out a shingle and think that they can be a musician or actor? 

Is it because a few famous people have gotten lucky with very little effort and talent/training and/or skill so the general public thinks that must be true for everyone? 

Would anyone try to pull the same garbage with claiming to be a plumber?  No.  Of course, at the top tier of plumbing, there isn’t the perceived enormous salary, nor is it perceived to be a “fun” job.

I am a card-carrying member of the Actor’s Equity Association.  I’ve been around the entertainment industry for over 20 years.  And I saw a lot of people I recognized in The Great World of Sound.  Entertainment is full of parasites who are the opposite of honest labor, people who only want to make money off of the dreams of others.  They make me sick.  And the gullible have and always will make it way too easy for them. 

It takes a lot of willing suspension of disbelief for so much deception to work.  When Martin and Clarence accept and continue their jobs as producers, they remain in denial about the honesty of their bosses far longer than is reasonable.  The “talent” has to be in denial to think that they are in the same league with professional musicians.  Yet we see the same degree of denial weekly in our living rooms auditioning for American Idol.  These poor fools would be ripe for this very scam.

As the viewer of this film, I was in a definite dilemma.  I had little sympathy for the ignorant folks who had so little respect for my art form that they thought it was easy to just come in with little preparation, no talent, and no clue and thought they could be the equivalent of someone with actual talent who had dedicated their entire life.  Perhaps they did deserve to be taught this lesson….but I also ached for them and for their dreams about to be torn away from them.

This was a very difficult film to watch, yet fascinating at the same time.  And it raises some big questions through the fabulous performances of Kene Holliday as Clarence and Pat Healy as Martin.   Why is the artist who is actually good (and I mean really good) the one who is most vulnerable and put in the very same position as the lameasses?  At what point to you choose survival over what is ethical? 

This is a very timely film, just what popular culture needs after one too many seasons of American Idol.

Carolan Guernsey