The Great World of Sound (2007)

When Martin (Pat Healy), an eager twenty or thirty-something in search of a cool career, answers an ad to train as a music producer, he becomes scam-artist and victim. Naivete serves as a distant cousin to self-delusion when Clarence (Kene Holiday), a chatty co-worker, and Martin get sent out on the road to "song shark."

The Great World of Sound record label will assist you in obtaining your dreams by recording your record in a state-of-the-art studio, print cds, and distribute them all for a small fee. This is exactly what Martin and Clarence tell people they audition in various hotels throughout the country. At first the power of helping people obtain their goals is so alluring that it blinds Martin and Clarence from realizing that they're scam artists. They go through the routine with great vigor and hope.

The myriad of desperate subjects in the film is obviously depressing, but also rather telling. At the bottom of the pyramid is the musicians. They are a motley crew of young, old, delusional, and occasionally talented. But most interestingly, they are real people who responded to real ads placed in an actual newspaper in their hometown. Think of American Idol, but with a candid camera, and no money...or traumatic criticisms. The responses to promises of fame and fortune from two men who (at first) want to believe just as badly as you do in a dream, viewed from two different angles, is so engrossing to some while others have enough sense to listen to the small, but confident voice in their head. Pat Healy and Ken Holiday both play along flawlessly.

A curious mix of documentary and comedy, The Great World of Sound will have you questioning your own ability to remain logical under the influence of heartfelt promises by two hoodwinkers who've been duped themselves. It is a brilliant blend of fact and fiction; thus, creating a most complete study of the overwhelming desire to become an overnight superstar hoarded by so many yet acheived by so few. The raw element of the hidden cameras and non-actors emphasizes the vulnerability of its' subjects in a way story alone could not. The transition from fact to fiction isn't as seamless as it could be at times, but nor is it terrbibly disruptive. Definitely a must-see.

Directed by Craig Zobel.