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Music

MUSIC (Andrew Zuckerman). 52 minutes. Saturday (March 12), 10:15 pm.

CANADIAN MUSIC WEEK FILM FESTIVAL Friday and Saturday (March 11 and 12) at the TIFF Bell Lightbox Box. canadianmusicfest.com/filmfest. See Indie & Rep Film. Rating: NNNN


Over 50 musicians – waist-up shots only – explain how they feel about making music while a low-fi generic soundtrack plays behind them. Sounds like a drag, but guess what? Music is one of the best talking-heads documentaries ever.

That’s because Andrew Zuckerman has found a jaw-dropping range of artists from all genres to feature – from Ornette Coleman to Vampire Weekend’s Ezra Koenig, with Philip Glass, Ani DiFranco and the always smart Iggy Pop in between.

Why name-check these five, actually? They’re all worth listening to as they riff on the subjects of inspiration, collaboration – when soundtrack writers, such as Danny Elfman, are particularly fun – performance and success.

Zuckerman slyly begins the pic with artists who are rendered speechless by his request for a definition of music, obviously playing on the stereotype of the inarticulate musician. Then his passionate, honest, supremely intelligent subjects just blow us away.

Plus, you can play a cool game of Name That Musician when each of them first appears.

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