When actor Ethan Hawke hit midlife, he found himself, as he puts it, "struggling with why I do what I do" and wondering about "what is authentic." (He gets that money is not the same as satisfaction or virtue, even going so far as to note that some of his worst work has been some of his most financially successful.) He found an answer in the person of pianist/composer/teacher Seymour Bernstein, a man who concluded at an early age that "the essence of who we are resides in our talent." In his case, says Bernstein, an accord between the musical self and the personal self produces "a never-ending cycle of fulfillment." Hawke, who hasn't directed since 2006's The Hottest State, still knows better than to stuff his film's 84 minutes with too much of this inward talk, and most of the runtime is taken up with Bernstein's personal history and his work as a teacher. (A master class with several young pianists provides a marvelous lesson in the importance of craft.) By the end of our introduction, Bernstein emerges as a man who has found a way to build order out of life's chaos through music. Ultimately, that way seems more personal than universal, but the old eternal verities about struggle and meaning keep it from feeling esoteric. (2015) — Matthew Lickona
This movie is not currently in theaters.