GFF 2011: Deconstructing Dad

Documentaries can become personal in the making for any filmmaker, but the achievement of Stan Warnow in Deconstructing Dad is particularly admirable in its impartiality. A frank account of his absent father, the composer Raymond Scott, Warnow relates his innovative use of jazz, his obsession with recorded sound and contribution to the dawn of electronic music. American composer, conductor and pianist John Williams, and others, pay tribute to his often unrecognised influence.

Scott’s steep evolution as both musician and man is surreal, dizzying and at times controversial. For a father who described microphones like microscopes - tools for stripping something down to its basic structure - Warnow utilises film similarly in exploring how Raymond’s preoccupations and unique perspective filtered through his legacy and family, at times to its detriment. As fascinating and visionary as Scott is, the real beauty of this account is that of a son getting to know his dad retrospectively, showing the acceptance and compassion only time can bring.