Trimpin: The Sound Of Invention Review

On Tuesday, February 16th at Millsaps College, I saw The Southern Circuit film series viewing of the documentary, Trimpin: The Sound of Invention. The documentary was directed by Peter Esmonde. This film is primarily concerned with providing the audience with a glimpse into the artistic genius of Trimpin, a modern and controversial composer. At the beginning of the work, we are shown the oddities of Trimpin's work--his daily activities from making instruments from kids toys to bamboo poles. Much of this concerns Esmonde either setting up a tripod and/or literally following Trimpin around as he builds various "instruments." It's not until later, we discover that Trimpin has been chartered to compose a concert of sorts for the opening of The Seattle Art Institute. This becomes the primary mode by which Esmonde exhibits Trimpin's artistic creativity and freedom. We see Trimpin struggle with both the conveyance and understanding of his own vision to his players. In the end, Trimpin's work proves successful and much of the Seattle Art Institute's audience thoroughly enjoyed the performance. The most distinctive part about this film was Trimpin himself. At the end of the screening, Esmonde stated that his goal was to show the freedom of creativity artists exude. While I find this true to a certain extent, most of what I got out of the film centered around Trimpin. Esmonde did a great job demonstrating to the viewer both the eccentricity and normalcy of Trimpin. By that I mean, he juxtaposed the strange way Trimpin viewed daily life with Trimpin's own desires and reasons. For example, we see Trimpin building an instrument from wooden shoes, then we see his desires to have his worked published to the outside world. Many documentaries try to pigeon hole the subject matter, but Esmonde did a great job in allowing Trimpin just to be--if that makes sense.

Another really distinctive aspect of the movie were the shots. I'm not sure how intentional a lot of this was, but Esmonde did a great job showing his audience that Trimpin heard the sound of daily life much like an artist sees the colors in the sky. You really grasped the idea. This is most evident in the room where Trimpin has created manipulated sounds from what appear to be glass containers. Esmonde uses medium and long and close ups shots in the this violet lit room. It's a beautiful scene both visually and sound wise. It's one of the few times in the film where the visuals exponentiate what you hear.

Since this was a documentary, it was hard to get at a direct story line. However, as it unfolded, we immediately found most of the conflict in the film centered around Trimpin's creation for the Seattle Art Institute. This was shown well, and it gave much of the proceeding shots meaning. The main problem with this story line is that, in the beginning of the film, we are not really sure where it's going. By that I mean, we are exposed to this strange man, Trimpin, and not sure if this will be only a character study or something more. I found this troublesome at times. Overall, Esmonde's generous exposure of Trimpin's charisma saved much of these problems. Before the screening began, Esmonde's asked us to close our eyes at times and just listen to Trimpin's music. Unfortunately, this was not possible because Esmonde did not include of Trimpin's music over the scene. Everything visually seemed purposeful. If he wanted the audience to this, perhaps providing less commentary by Trimpin or the various people interview during the film would solve the problem.

I purposely went into this film trying to know nothing about its topic and scope. From the screening, I honestly felt like I knew Trimpin very well. I enjoyed much of his approachability. The other themes Esmonde attempted to espoused I did not get--his idea of the freedom of the artist in a general sense. I just didn't see this WHILE watching the film: as an afterthought--perhaps.

For a topic that I would initially have no interest in otherwise, the film did an EXCELLENT job of presenting its subject matter. Disregarding the lack of direction at the documentary's onset, the rest of the film kept me really interested and I greatly enjoyed this glimpse into Trimpin's mind.