SOUNDTRACKER (Nicholas Sherman, U.S.). 88 minutes. Sunday (May 2), 6:45 pm, ROM Tuesday (May 4), 4:30 pm, Cumberland 2 May 9, 4 pm, Innis Town Hall. Rating: NNNN
Director Nick Sherman accompanies sound recordist Gordon Hempton on a trip across America to capture the sounds of a vanishing natural landscape – deer crossing a quiet country road, tall grass waving in the wind.
As he works, Sherman invites us to contemplate the world’s disappearing “quiet places” lost to human encroachment.
Like all great obsessives, Hempton has his buttons – at one point, he’s moved to tears by the loneliness of a remote pair of trees – but he’s terrific at his job, and it’s enthralling to watch him spend days trying to capture the perfect intersection of a passing train and a mockingbird’s song.[rssbreak]
