American Symphony (2023) Documentary Movie Review
In the middle of Matthew Heineman's touching film "American Symphony," there's a powerful moment that stands out. The movie, which has been fast-paced and busy, suddenly slows down. Jon Batiste, a talented artist, is on stage, and he says, "This last one is for Suleika." Then, he pauses for a really long time. You can see the emotions on his face, and it's like he's gathering those feelings before letting them flow through his piano-playing hands. With his eyes closed, he plays the piano, seemingly trying to infuse his art with the intense emotions he's feeling. It's a breathtaking scene and gets to the heart of what the whole movie is about - how art helps us process emotions that are hard to put into words.
The director of "Cartel Land" and "Retrograde," Matthew Heineman, spent time with Jon Batiste in early 2022. This was a time when Batiste's life was full of extremes. On the same day, he found out he was nominated for 11 Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year, he got the news that his partner Suleika Jaouad's cancer had come back. Despite all this, Batiste was working on his biggest artistic project, "American Symphony," a musical endeavor meant to celebrate diverse musical contributions, especially from people of color. Planning a huge show at Carnegie Hall is stressful on its own, but doing it while your loved one is going through chemotherapy is almost unimaginable.
Watching "American Symphony" on Netflix gives you a lot of positive vibes, but as Jon Batiste and Suleika Jaouad's story unfolds, it becomes a bit hard to fully grasp. The film touches on the artistic process of creating the symphony and the challenges of fighting cancer, but it often feels like we only get glimpses and sound bites, leaving us a bit in the dark.
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Towards the end of "American Symphony," there's a powerful idea that could have been explored more directly. Suleika expresses something profound after Jon's success coincides with her cancer's return: “I honestly don’t know how to hold such extremes.” It resonates with the pandemic era, where joy and tragedy coexisted. Personally, I've faced similar struggles with depression, balancing the highs of my kids growing up and the lows of losing important people in recent years.
Isn't that just life, though? Heineman, Batiste, and Jaouad get it - we all deal with extremes, especially lately. The film challenges Suleika's statement, showing that she does know how to handle extremes through love and artistic expression. It captures how art isn't just a healing process; it's how we live. We each have the power to compose our own symphony, especially with someone inspiring us along the way.