This could have been a big influence on Todd Haynes’ really great I’m Not There. But this didn’t click with me. I got the impression that it was trying really hard to be a non-standard biopic, a great goal to have, in a way that just didn’t fit. Where I’m Not There earned its schizophrenia with its hyper-faceted subject, 32 Short Films felt like it was purposefully trying to hide important things about Glenn Gould’s life from me, or maybe it just didn’t know many important parts of his life. Not that the 3 or 4 avant-garde shorts are bad. They were all good ideas. But they felt like time-passers and indulgences to me. The music is great, though, and the opening and closing shots are very good, too, reminding me of the centerpiece of Albert Serra’s Birdsong. Also, Canada is a bilingual country, I get it, but if I’m not watching the film in a theatre in Quebec, and there are characters speaking French, there should be English subtitles. Everyone in Toronto who speaks French also speaks English, and most of the city doesn’t speak any French, I’d bet. Other than that, though, The Royal Cinema is a great place to see a movie.