Nathaniel Kahn has mastered the art of the short documentary, with one of the shortest and most concise works I've ever seen. Clocking in at only seventeen minutes, Two Hands is simple and moving, containing nothing that doesn't need to be there. I was blessed to see the film on the big screen with the director present for a Q&A, and it was quite an experience.
The movie tells the tragic (and triumphant) story of acclaimed concert pianist Leon Fleisher, who lost the use of his right hand in an accident. He overcame this obstacle by playing only left-handed pieces, conducting, and teaching, and years later, through experimental medical treatments, regained the use of his second hand.
As simple as the story it tells seems to be, the film is even simpler, and should be praised for this fact. As Mr. Kahn said in his post-screening discussion, this is how long the film wanted to be, and his job was simply to shave off the extra bits to get it there. At this, he succeeded. Fleisher's story is presented without overdoing anything, and the power of his experiences and his interesting character were both strong enough to carry the entire film.
It's difficult to write much more about a movie that was shorter than it's taken me to write this much, so I won't even attempt it. This is how long my thoughts on this film want to be, so I will let them be so.
The movie tells the tragic (and triumphant) story of acclaimed concert pianist Leon Fleisher, who lost the use of his right hand in an accident. He overcame this obstacle by playing only left-handed pieces, conducting, and teaching, and years later, through experimental medical treatments, regained the use of his second hand.
As simple as the story it tells seems to be, the film is even simpler, and should be praised for this fact. As Mr. Kahn said in his post-screening discussion, this is how long the film wanted to be, and his job was simply to shave off the extra bits to get it there. At this, he succeeded. Fleisher's story is presented without overdoing anything, and the power of his experiences and his interesting character were both strong enough to carry the entire film.
It's difficult to write much more about a movie that was shorter than it's taken me to write this much, so I won't even attempt it. This is how long my thoughts on this film want to be, so I will let them be so.
