Written by Andreas Babiolakis

Who doesn’t love Jon Batiste? The Louisiana singer-songwriter and composer has been a pivotal figure in music for the last decade, either through his charming tenure on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, his Grammys dominance (when he pulled off the surprise upset for Album of the Year for We Are in 2021), or even his attachment to cinema (he won an Academy Award with Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross for Best Original Score for Soul). When American Symphony — a documentary by Matthew Heineman that chronicles the most turbulent year in Batiste’s life (one where he was working on We Are while supporting his wife, writer Suleika Jaouad during her battle with leukemia) — was announced, I was expecting to get to know this generational talent more than ever before. It’s a blessing and a curse that Batiste is so open in general. You always know who you are witnessing because his vibrant personality pounces off the screen whenever you see him, and his glorious compositions and piano-key-melting playing also hit you right away. He’s not exactly a man of mystery.

This familiarity is a curse because much of American Symphony feels like it is revisiting ground that has already been covered. I’m not a Batiste expert, so dipping into his everyday family life and the appetizer offering of his upbringing (which really doesn’t last long) proved to be beneficial to me; I can only imagine that most, if not all, of these sequences, were common knowledge to his biggest fans, who are most likely the intended audience. Otherwise, we get into the gestation of music, which is honestly the most fascinating part of American Symphony: seeing how a musical wizard’s brain ticks. These are the only things about Batiste that feel like they are pulled out of thin air, mainly because he has an imagination that most of us simply do not possess. I found myself wondering again and again how he arrived at certain creative decisions because we never see the points between A to Z (the latter of which he arrives at at an instance). This is not a complaint. This is applause to a musician who seems unparalleled right now when it comes to the effortlessness of his wits.

While the film likely won’t introduce too much new information to fans of Jon Batiste, American Symphony is at least a great starting point for those who are curious about the perennial musician.

The other main draw is to watch all of the scenes with wife Jaouad, not just because of Batiste’s vulnerability and care for his partner but because of the perseverance she possesses to keep fighting. She supports Batiste’s artistic risks as much as he is by her side during her health scare. We don’t even need a backstory on how these two met because their love shimmers off the screen and will move you beyond words. While this and Batiste’s creative journeys are both major portions of American Symphony, we still don’t get quite as much bonding between us and the subject(s) as I would have liked, Extra camera angles of already-televised events don’t add much outside of Batiste’s perspective. We needed more, even regarding Jaouad and why she is important (because she is quite renowned in her field as well). This film feels a bit like a meet-and-greet where you finally get to sit down with your favourite celebrity and ask them anything over dinner. In this instance, the celebrity is not problematic (Batiste seems like the sweetheart he comes off as), so the event itself isn’t a letdown. However, the server keeps interrupting your questions and the celebrity’s answers, and by the time the server is off the clock, your celebrity guest has to get going. You saw the person that you already knew and admired, not the one you wanted to get to know outside of what you have already ascertained through their works, the news, social media, and other avenues of information and exposure. I would have liked to have had more time to have asked Jon Batiste more things.

Andreas Babiolakis has a Masters degree in Film and Photography Preservation and Collections Management from Ryerson University, as well as a Bachelors degree in Cinema Studies from York University. His favourite times of year are the Criterion Collection flash sales and the annual Toronto International Film Festival.