A Philosopher Biopic

Actually there is a lot more about this, that is not discussed directly, but is a part of their rehearsing and then playing together. The rehearsal "structure" is designed to find the moments that can change things and incur a new moment, which is one of the valuable parts of meditation and the studies in "improvisation" in theater and film, which musicians think is not applicable for the most part ... and yet, folks like RF use it every day and few folks get it, or understand it. 

On another thread on PA I discussed this in much more detail, and I think it was about RF and KC, if I remember correctly, but in many ways, the whole crux of the matter was about a rehearsal technique based on a time limit, that helps break down and dispose of the habits that you have of being dependent on a scale, and not listening/seeing what is happening around you. The point of the meditation/exercise, just like the clarity in the end of the film, is the end result ... the folks involved, have a stronger sense of working together than just notes or melodies ... it goes into an internal are of yourself that many of us do not have words for it ... besides, why ruin it with a word ... just love and enjoy the result!

And, unfortunately, this is the part of it all that is difficult to ascertain and explain. Even folks like Aleister Crowley was experimenting with meditation and music and dancing, and sex, to see how far these things could go and how close, they were to a lot of the magick world that he was familiar with ... his Autobiography details some of it, but sadly a lot of it is kinda left behind, and I think it is because people will misunderstand the sex connection, as just an orgy of satisfaction, not something else. You just about could go back to the Marquis de Sade to find similar thoughts and ideas.

Peter Brook's film, is ... fantastic, but I doubt that many folks will enjoy it, and find in it, what the main character did, for example, and be able to make sense of the beginning versus the end .... and essentially, there is no connection, and that is really hard for us to work with and deal with.

The film is, in some ways, a documentary, since so much of it was written and designed with folks that were connected to Gurdjieff himself, and with Peter Brook, which gives it a nice touch. Seeing the ending is nice ... but connecting it to the start of the story/film ... is a problem unless the philosophy makes it clear there is no connection at all ... and that is one side of the "spiritual" thing that we have a hard time dealing with!

Few people you will EVER meet, talk and appreciate Peter Brook, any more than I do.

AND, if you really want to see a "philosophy" at work ... watch the film made of one of his studies and rehearsals ... THE TIGHTROPE ... and in the end, you end up wondering if this is a philosophy, or acting ... and you really don't have an answer, but it sure enhances the quality of acting!

SIDEBAR: There are bits and pieces of this philosophy that appear to have their source/link to performance, and specific to forms of ritual, of which the theater and film finally came alive from. Peter Brook, has been, since his start, an experimental director in both film and specially theater ... and his studies are legendary with the actors he worked with and clearly seen in his films. One of the strongest statements in all this, btw, was how the lack of communication could still create communication. THE MAHABHARATTA featured actors from many countries and they could not even talk with each other very well, and yet, when you see the performances on film ... you ... huhhhhh ... you ... yeah ... have no words for it whatsoever.

SIDEBAR2: I have always written and wished that musicians could put their craft and ego aside to try some of these things ... creativity would jump and break all the meters available ... but most of them, do not have a concept or idea beyond the notes and the sound ... there is much more ... a lot more!