Robert Carpenter In case you are unfamiliar, the background to this documentary is an amateur piano competition inspired by one of the great virtuosic pianists of the 20th century, Van Cliburn. The film follows the lives of maybe 10-15 of the competitors, capturing their highs and lows during the competition and telling their individual stories.Even when one considers the remarkable musical accompaniment provided to the film by the competition, the beauty of this piece is found in the competitors themselves.In each of the amateur pianists, the viewer finds something familiar -- admittedly with greater frequency and magnitude in some than others. The director chose such a diverse cross-section of personalities and personal histories -- from the relatively not-uncommon to the fascinating and even, on occasion, absurd -- that it is just as easy to believe that the person sitting in the concert hall before the piano, hands sweating, heart racing, creating beautiful music for the world, is you. And in a sense, as this is an amateur competition, maybe it is.I am not a gifted musician, but the message of this documentary rings as true for me as does Mozart/Bach/Rachmaninoff from the Steinway. I think a quote from Maestro Cliburn near the beginning of the documentary aptly captures the production's spirit."Musical inspiration is the gift of God. Use it with the purest of motives. Aim high and consider yourself capable of great things. Lend your talents to the world to make it better."The second half of the quote -- beginning with "aim high" -- articulates the message that every person, regardless of musical aptitude, can take from this documentary. It is at once delightfully entertaining and happily inspiring.

darkness_visible It's difficult to know how it's possible to go wrong making a film like this, especially considering there is no shortage of existing dot-to-dot templates (e.g. Spellbound) to work from, yet somehow director Rotaru manages to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. There is nothing egregiously terrible about the film per se, it's just that while watching it one can't help but get caught up in a stream of consciousness fantasy about how it ought to have been so much better. Strange artistic decisions abound - when Drew Mays is shown practicing at home we have to sit through several minutes of children dressed as fairies pirouetting in the foreground; capsule background biographies extend five to ten minutes longer than welcome; an absurd attempt is made to manufacture a heterosexual romance between an obviously closeted gay male performer and some random woman; but apparently no one makes any attempt to protect contestants from themselves and ensure they are dressed in a manner they won't be ashamed to watch on screen in years to come. Of course one could say that a documentarian's responsibility is simply to observe and present, but surely after 15 years of reality TV there's a pretty much universal understanding that story and character are components that are built and enhanced in the edit. There wasn't enough music, and what there was of it wasn't the right music. Weirdly we see two pianists performing Schumann's Toccata at different points in the film, but even more weirdly the exact same passage, not even representative of the piece as a whole, is used on both occasions. All the ingredients were there to make a fantastic, uplifting and energizing film about second chances, determination and the healing power of music, yet upon removal from the oven this soufflé fell flat as a pancake.

mariannay This is a "Spellbound" about music (for those you have seen this documentary about Spelling Bee competition). The film follows a group of pianists during a yearly Amateur Piano Competition held in Texas in the United States.The film is greatly edited, is entertaining and very witty. Moldovan housewife from the former USSR now living in California - Esfir is really touching, as well as an ophthalmologist from Alabama and many other contestants. There are software engineers, a TV producer, a flight attendant and a federal judge.They are all are over forty and have day jobs. And some of them have overcome something quite challenging in their lives - AIDS... heartbreak... political asylum...And, what is also important - the film celebrates great classical music: from Beethoven's The Tempest - to Rachmaninoff and Bach, Haydn and Chopin. A contestant or two will crash and burn on stage, but nobody's career will be ruined. In fact, there is nothing "amateur" about most of these pianists - some of them are brilliant - like Drew Mays - and they came to play for love, not for money.

leslie hawke As soon as this film is available on DVD I am going to buy twenty copies to keep on hand to give to my over 40 friends on their birthdays. The underlying message is "go for it!". In an age when many gifted people consider themselves failures if they don't reach the world fame level in their field, it's a refreshing reminder of the power and pleasure of art for art's sake. "They Came to Play" was a delightful peek, for a non-musician like myself, into the intriguing and whimsical minds of the musically gifted. It was also an extraordinary feat of editing. It would be interesting to know how many contestants the filmmaker followed in order to come up with the final set of featured individuals.