Chilly Gonzales: Shut Up and Play the Piano

Directed by Philipp Jedicke

Chilly Gonzales is a professional paradox: a genre-juggling provocateur serving up rap and electro in underground Berlin who became an unexpected infiltrator of the concert halls of classical music. Truth, fiction and mischief collide in this playful documentary as we follow the Grammy-winning Gonzales from his native Montreal to late 1990s Berlin, and via Paris to the world’s great philharmonic halls. Along the way, he notches up collaborations with the likes of Feist, Jarvis Cocker, Peaches, Daft Punk and Drake.

Diving deep into the dichotomy of Gonzales’ stage persona, in which relentless self-doubt and gleeful megalomania are two sides of the same coin, the documentary makes unorthodox use of the artist’s own video archives along with interviews and performance footage. A fast-paced portrait of a restless reveller in artifice and a career driven by the desire to push boundaries as well as buttons.

 

Duration:
82 minutes

Languages:
English

Country of origin:
Germany

Year of production:
2018