Talent Has Hunger 2015
Distributed by First Run Features, 630 Ninth Avenue, Suite 1213, New York, NY 10036; 212-243-0600
Produced by Josh Aronson
Directed by Josh Aronson
DVD , color, 83 min., plus extras
High School - General Adult
Music, Education
Date Entered: 11/22/2016
Reviewed by Bonnie Jo Dopp, Librarian Emerita, University of MarylandCellist and master teacher Paul Katz allowed award-winning filmmaker Josh Aronson (Andrew & Wendy (2014), Orchestra of Exiles (2012)) to film him and his students at the New England Conservatory of Music over seven years in order to produce this thoughtful study of what good teaching looks like when raw talent is directed properly.
Katz does not expect all his students to want the same things from his coaching; he starts where each student is with regard to previous training and motivation and tailors his lessons to their need to progress and his desire to help. One kid is 10 years old when he starts with Katz — a prodigy with a child-size instrument. His joy when he grows enough for a full-size cello should have audiences clapping. Another is the son of musician parents, with a considerable head start on his own dreamed-of professional career, which eventually begins with a performance at Carnegie Hall. A young woman wants to teach as well as she has been taught (we see her practicing that, in the end). A fellow with a bad habit of late-start cramming for performance exams (a strategy that doesn’t work out well) seems hopelessly lazy, however gifted. He finally finds his niche as a classical music house concert performer and crossover composer. The idea that “talent has hunger” is stated several times here — you can only get so far on innate abilities. Growing artistically requires feeding your talent with practice and expert guidance.
Excellent editing and musical choices enhance the stories of each student as well as their well-known teacher, who had been the cellist in the Cleveland Quartet. We hear some of the same phrases played in subsequent years (better) or by different people (with individuality) and there is plenty of good music throughout the film, all meticulously credited. The camera never seems intrusive and we care more about these individuals as each year passes. Extras include an interview with the director and more lessons from Katz via his cello resource website, cellobello. Much of the educational philosophy here could be transferred to any art, but the film will appeal mainly to music mavens, including parents and teachers.