The theremin is an odd instrument that stands straight like a podium with a horizontal loop and a vertical antenna sticking out of the top.
The eery, etherial sound that is emitted is brought forth by musicians who need not even touch the instrument -- rather, the sound is created by the manipulation of an electromagnetic field.
If this description sounds peculiar, the man who invented it was certainly, at least, equally peculiar. Director Steve M. Martin tells the story of the Russian-born Leon Theremin and his theremin, in his documentary "Theremin: An Electronic Odyssey."
The film follows Theremin's amazing life from the time he invented the instrument by accident in 1920 to the time of filming. Theremin died in November of 1993 at the age of 97.
In 1922, Theremin found himself demonstrating the instrument in the Kremlin before Lenin. By 1928, Theremin was playing his instrument to sold-out audiences in New York City's Carnegie Hall. A headline following the concert read: "Soviet Edison Takes Music From the Air." In 1938, Theremin disappeared and the film takes on the feel of an investigation.
Martin took on the project and worked on it for five years. About 75 percent of the funding came out of his own pocket. His last dollars were spent on a plane ticket to Europe where he marketed the unfinished product, which was finally picked up by England's Channel 4.
He lived on a diet of bread and water and subsisted purely on his passion for the unrecognized genius of Leon Theremin.
The sacrifices were certainly worth it. For his troubles, the film garnered a British Academy Award nomination, a Golden Gate Award at the San Francisco International Film Festival and a Filmmakers Trophy at the Sundance Film Festival.
Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times said "No matter what your threshold for pleasure and astonishment, this film ... will cross them easily."
To wonder what drives a film about a musical instrument is only natural. But it is not the instrument that is really the interesting part -- it is the man whose name it carries.
