A love letter to the Guinness Book of Records was how American director Sam Green described The Measure Of All Things but it was much more than that.

A live cinema performance with a soundtrack provided by a sextet of musicians on stage and Green himself delivering the narration, this was a touching 60-minute portrait of the human race.

Green went behind the statistics of the record-holders; the world’s tallest man, the oldest living thing, to uncover the stories behind them. Humour, tragedy, human folly, it was all there, illuminating the links between us all.

Filmmaker Green was a warm and likeable host and yMusic brought a contemporary twist to the classical chamber genre with the music never distracting from or dominating the images.

This was literally a unique experience, it will never be performed in exactly the same way twice and can only be shown in one place at a time.

Unlike The Way We Used To Live, another cinematic piece to live music shown earlier in the week at Brighton Festival, The Measure Of All Things didn’t tell you what to think. Here was a thought-provoking mixture of images, spoken word, music and ideas. Moving and memorable.

Five stars