Film

On its face, this engrossing, behind-the-scenes doc tells the straightforward story of the making of a nine-foot Steinway concert-grand piano. Since those instruments are made by hand in the storied company’s Queens factory, though, the film takes on an elegiac and nostalgic tone for a time when everything wasn’t mass-produced.

Documenting the factory workers’ minute motions, and with clips of piano rims (the outer shell) wheeled through the bustling factory, the film occasionally resembles an old Sesame Street segment. But that notion quickly disappears during interviews with the piano technicians, who speak of the pride they take in their craft. Some have worked there for 40 years, and as one, Dennis Schweit, explains, “It’s the United Nations in here.” Niles includes interviews with workers from all over the globe, and their different methods yield subtly distinct instruments.

In a Steinway showroom near Carnegie Hall, renowned jazz and classical pianists demonstrate the differences between the pianos: Harry Connick Jr. talks about what he likes; Bill Charlap plays the same Gershwin phrase on seven or eight pianos until he finds what he’s looking for.

Pierre-Laurent Aimard offers the most insight, though, as he tests pianos before a recital. He talks about the importance of observing “the human gesture” in both playing a piano and building one. In an increasingly mechanized world, it’s good to be reminded of where we can find that.