Pssst, want to check out American Symphony in our new look?
Information
- Year
- 2023
- Runtime
- 104 min.
- Director
- Matthew Heineman
- Genres
- Biography, Music, Documentary
- Rating *
- 8.3
- Votes *
- 0
- Checks
- 156
- Favs
- 4
- Dislikes
- 4
- Favs/checks
- 2.6% (1:39)
- Favs/dislikes
- 1:1
Top comments
-
CakeofSugar
It's almost a parody, frankly, a film made with a glossy and smug sincerity whereby the viewer either doesn't buy into the po-faced earnestness and the whole thing feels like a show, or its just downright grating. The cinematography and editing have a lot to answer for here, as the look of perfect shininess is at odds with the supposedly private and intimate nature, so heartfelt moments look like a Hallmark movie; or, cutting from Batiste having the time of his life to his wife's struggles with leukemia. These choices make the film feel both inauthentic (at a performance level) and ugly (humanistically). We are reminded how great and humble Batiste is, but the greatness is rarely shown - we don't actually see that much of the symphony's genesis or development. What we see is a cloying performer desperate to be seen as great, which is bad enough, but obviously even worse when considering we are also dealing with a cancer survival story.
Yeah, his wife is dying, but will he win a grammy?? 2 months 3 weeks ago