4

Music documentaries usually put me to sleep but this one is out of the ordinary. Four outstanding violinists (with orchestras) play a movement each of Vivaldi's "Four Seasons" in the appropriate season in their country. Three of them are in their 20s and represent a new generation of classical music performers. All started playing at a very young age but still have boundless enthusiasm for music. Sayaka Shoji ("Spring") is only 24, yet already is an established teacher as well as performer in her native Japan and elsewhere. Niki Vasilakis ("Summer") is Greek-Australian, and a real rising star. At 45 the oldest performer, Cho-Liang Lin ("Autumn" – or "Fall"), is a Taiwanese-New Yorker from the very heart of the chamber music establishment. Finally there is the ebullient Pekka Kuusisto ('Winter") from Finland.

What makes this movie watchable is the clever use of landscape (particularly in the Finnish and Australian segments), the sparking personalities of the principal violinists (particularly Pekka Kuusisto), and the cinema sound reproduction which is way above CD standard. At 90 minutes it is also succinct ("Four Seasons" itself takes about 40 minutes to play – I'm not sure if we get to hear all of it but I believe the soundtrack is available). Each segment is different - Japan is mostly music and talk, New York is music, talk and a trip to a deli, Australia is mostly travel and music, Finland is landscape, talk, music and high jinks. These elements combine to produce a kind of cultural travelogue, or at least to show that to musicians everywhere, the music is the thing.

One rather ominous aspect of the film is that in each country someone observes (apparently unprompted) that the weather is changing. In Japan the cherry blossoms are out too early, Thursday Island (Australia) is missing the monsoon, the fall is late in Central Park, New York, and the Lapp winter (Finland) is warmer.

This sort of documentary doesn't usually make it into the cinemas, but the sound quality and photography justify a big screen showing. I have the feeling not many will make the effort, but if you are fond of Vivaldi's music, this will be an enjoyable and reassuring experience. However it's not a movie that will reassure climate change skeptics.

How can I get a digital version of this to watch at home? (I am in Australia) - I'd really like to buy a digital version PLEASE

Superlatives like 'breathtaking' or 'sublime' or even plain old 'wow' are the order of the month now that '4' is getting an August cinema release in Australia. This documentary feature is a 4 part journey of 4 seasons... Vivaldi's 4 Seasons to be musically exact... played by 4 different musicians; Spring is in Tokyo, Autumn is in Australia's Northern Territory, Spring is in New York (I like New York in Spring... how about you?) and finally in a 22 minute climax in Finland of unimaginable breathtaking and sublime visuals... a wow performance by a 20-something male violinist delivers Vivaldi's Winter suite completing the 4 seasons in a trip across the most incredible vistas on the planet. 4 is a music documentary masterpiece, a film deserving of an Academy award for feature or photography alone, a film designed to lift the spirit of the viewer through music and the achievement of young musicians... a cultural exchange with a music score so familiar it seems presented as though I had never heard it before. I do not know what happened to my head while I watched 4 but I need to see it 44 times just to cope with what I was seeing and hearing. This music film is a dream of the most desirable type. I found out later the photography was by Pieter DeVries who is an imax cinematographer. And the Oscar goes to....

Great film. Really beautiful melding of music, landscape and characters. www.4themovie.com is the site of this film, check it out, it has trailer on it, quite a lot of images and more info about the film. The film has been released on DVD in Australia, and is going to be released in NZ in 2008. Would be great to see this film on more screens internationally There is a soundtrack available too, which has all of the Four Seasons on it plus some other music from the film -some great Indigenous music from Australia, some wild jazzy folk music from Finland and some real New York sounds. The soundtrack is available in Australia, not sure about other territories.

I think I must have seen a different version from that viewed by ptb-8 and reviewed on IMDb. In mine, Spring is depicted as the gentle season, set among the blossoms of Japan - where else?. Then we move to the "sunburnt country" - Australia where the summers are long and savage. Here we see and hear the extraordinary talent of the wonderful Niki Vasilakis of Classical Destinations fame, before crossing the Pacific to North America. Fall (autumn)is celebrated in New York's Central Park,with the predictable feast of images from this always vibrant setting. Finally we move to winter in blisteringly cold Finland and marvel at the good humour of people who are not going to see sun for several months. Since first seeing this I have intended to buy the DVD. I'm glad I waited because the one I bought also has a CD of the sound track, so I can double my enjoyment of this superb production and its imaginative interpretation of Vivaldi's delightful music.