American Symphony follows the journey of musician Jon Batiste during his most successful and challenging year. The documentary is now streaming on Netflix.
Story
American musician Jon Batiste is 2022’s most-honored artist, with 11 Grammy nominations, which include nominations for Best Score Soundtrack for Soul, Best Musical Video, Record of the Year, and Album of the Year.
Jon Batiste is going to bring joy to all of his fans, as he is going to do the American Symphony at Carnegie Hall. Through his symphony, he plans to present what America is about.
At a time when he is one of the most celebrated artists out there, Jon Batiste’s partner, Suleika Jaouad, is battling her long-dormant cancer that has returned.
The documentary captures the highs and lows of Batiste’s most successful year, a time when he dealt with different emotions.
Positives
The documentary comes with brilliant camera work. The creators have operated with a lot of patience when capturing Batiste’s work and performances. It doesn’t skip the thoughts or the time that Batiste puts into his musical pieces. One will keep wondering how music comes to Batiste.
In the meantime, Batiste lives up to everything he says, and that is reflected in the kind of music he produces and the way he works. One can notice how Batiste is making music out of pure joy. The artist puts forth his emotions, and the creators do an excellent job of capturing them.
American Symphony easily transitions into becoming an intimate documentary. The viewers won’t even notice when they get absorbed into the musician’s life and family.
Batiste’s relationship with Jaouad, the ups and downs in their lives, their intimate conversations, and their challenges hit viewers. The documentary makes one feel their pain.
Negatives
American Symphony kind of forgets that it’s a music documentary while capturing Batiste’s personal life. Hence, the work that was put into making Batiste’s performance at Carnegie Hall is majorly missing or not captured the way it should have been. One can hardly call it a music documentary.
Verdict
American Symphony might not be a documentary about music, but it is definitely a bittersweet journey of an artist who is having his best year professionally and his most difficult year personally.
Exploring how he makes his wins count and tackles the challenges in his personal life along the way has one tuned in. One can’t help but see the artist’s life as a musical piece full of high and low notes.
American Symphony
Director: Matthew Heineman
Date Created: 2023-11-29 13:30
3.5
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