Documentary film “Crescendo”, which was released in South Korean theaters a few weeks ago, works best whenever it does not pay attention to the main attraction for South Korean audiences. As far as I can see from the documentary, Yunchan Lim, a South Korean pianist who has been building his burgeoning artistic career since his exceptional achievement in the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition of 2022, is the least interesting figure in the documentary despite his immense skill and talent, and this promising wunderkind is unfortunately eclipsed at times by his more colorful competitors who willingly and casually show more of themselves in front of not only the piano but also the camera.

For anyone not particularly familiar with the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition (Full Disclosure: I am one of such persons), the early part of the documentary gives some brief background information on this prestigious competition. After achieving a historical victory in one famous international piano competition in Moscow in 1958, a young but prodigious American pianist named Van Cliburn quickly rose as one of the greatest classic pianists of the 20th century. He also contributed a lot to promoting and supporting young and talented pianists, and that was how the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition was started in 1962. During next six decades, this prestigious competition has steadily gained more and more reputation, and it has been the equivalent to Mount Everest for any young ambitious pianist around the world.

Of course, the selection process by the jury of the competition is pretty tough to say the least. First, they receive more than 300 applicants, and then they must select 30 candidates after carefully evaluating each of these applicants. Once these 30 candidates are gathered at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas, they will go through the orientation before a series of rounds to be held at the Van Cliburn Concert Hall, and they all will have to do their best to the end, regardless of the eventual outcome for each of them.

Because everything must be as ideal flawless as possible, the staff members of the competition are ready to help and support the candidates in one way or another. For example, the candidates are allowed to choose between two grand pianos prepared for them, and they are also permitted to check and adjust a number of minor things for their individual performances. We see one of them trying several different chairs before eventually choosing the most ideal one for him, and you may be a bit amused to observe some other candidate thoroughly checking on the acoustic conditions of the concert hall.

Right from the first round which will eliminate 12 candidates, the mood becomes quite tense to say the least. Each of them has each own challenge to face, and the jury members, who are incidentally led by Marin Alsop (She is a prominent conductor who is regarded as the main source of inspiration for Todd Field’s Oscar-nominated film “Tár” (2022), by the way), must be careful and discreet on their eventual decision on who is more interesting or talented to them.

Nevertheless, the candidates have a fair share of joy and excitement even though being pressured a lot from time to time. As shown from a brief scene in the middle of the documentary, they can have each own free time whenever they are not practicing, and there is a little humorous moment when a young Ukrainian candidate attempts to drive a car under the guidance of his American host.

Due to the Russian Invasion of Ukraine in early 2022, there was actually a serious discussion on whether the competition should deny several Russian candidates in the shortlist, but the Russian candidates were eventually accepted because it was eventually concluded that art comes first before politics as an important tool for communication and empathy. As a matter of fact, one Russian candidate, who is incidentally a 31-year-old pregnant mother, expresses her indirect objection to what is going on in Ukraine during her interview, and we later see her casually and comfortably interacting with a couple of Ukrainian candidates selected along with her for the final round.

Because the documentary already showed the eventual winner of the competition at the beginning, there is not much suspense for us, but we come to sense more of how most of the candidates become quite agitated whenever the jury announce the decision on who will be selected for the next round to come. Many of those unselected candidates surely feel quite disappointed, but they are now more relaxed at least, while also readying themselves for whatever will come next for their life and career.

Compared to many of his fellow competitors to beat, Lim somehow looks relatively flat and plain as responding to a number of questions with humble platitudes. To be frank with you, this gently introverted lad often feels to me as awkward as Dustin Hoffman’s character in “The Graduate” (1967), and, considering that he is only 19 at present, I guess he needs to grow up a bit more for having more character to distinguish himself and his artistic talent further.

Anyway, “Crescendo”, which is directed and produced by Heather Wilk, is still worthwhile to watch for the fairly entertaining presentation of its main subject, and I surely appreciated the considerable talent and skill of those candidates in the competition. They all surely did their best, and I can only hope that all of them keep going in one way or another.