Hello film fans! Slick Dungeon here back to review another film nominated for an Oscar. This time I am diving into the documentary American Symphony which is nominated for best song. There will be spoilers for the movie below so if that sort of thing bothers you, dance your way to the film, give it a watch, and dance your way back here to read the review.

What’s it about?

From the outside it looks like John Batiste is simply on top of the world. He was the leader of Stay Human, the band that plays on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, he had been nominated for 11 Grammys, and he was getting ready to make his debut at Carnegie hall with an original symphony.

But life is more complicated than it might seem from the outside. At the same time all of this was happening, John Batiste’s wife, Suleika Jaouad, was battling leukemia.

The film documents a year in the life of the talented musician, highlighting his ups and downs, his struggles with anxiety, and the challenge of navigating through one of the busiest times of his career while also dealing with major issues in his personal life.

Through the film it is easy to see that Batiste is not only a brilliantly gifted musical artist but a genuinely caring person who is going through a lot of things all at once.

Considering the fact that Batiste has so far won 5 Grammys I don’t have to tell you that the soundtrack here is brilliant. Batiste blends traditions from New Orleans jazz with pop sounds and classical music together in a unique way making for an unmistakeable sound.

His idea is to create a symphony that could be made today with all types of musicians collaborating on it and coming together in a classical orchestra.

Despite the troubles he has in his personal life, Batiste pulls it off in incredible and stylish fashion. But the film also lets us in on Batiste’s emotions by intercutting scenes from his life with scenes from the preparation and performance of his symphony.

All in all it is an incredibly moving, and life affirming documentary.

The award

After watching this documentary, I feel that leaving off of the list for Best Documentary is a definite snub by the Academy Awards. There is a lot going on here and while there are several other good documentaries up for that category this year, not all of them are as good as this one.

But, the award this film is nominated for is Best Song. Again, not nominating this for Best Score seems like an injustice. The song in the film nominated for the award is called It Never Went Away and is created by John Batiste and Dan Wilson. To say that the song is anything other than brilliant would be wrong. Out of all the Best Song nominations, this is the most well crafted from a passionate musician who knows music. However, there is huge competition here. Batiste will have to win out over Diane Warren and Billie Eilish which is no easy feat. I would say he might get lucky with Barbie splitting the vote with two songs nominated in the category but luck would imply that this is not an incredible song. I still think due to its popularity that one of the songs from Barbie will win here but if the world was fair Batiste would win hands down. And he may. He did beat out several musicians before.

Yet even talking about who might win Best Song in the context of this film seems wrong if you have heard Batiste’s Grammy acceptance speech. In it he says, “I believe this to my core, there is no best musician, best artist, best dancer, best actor. The creative arts are subjective and they reach people at a point in their lives when they need it most. It’s like a song or an album is made and it’s almost like it has a radar to find the person when they need it the most.” This is a beautiful sentiment and after watching American Symphony I truly believe he means every word of it.

While he might not think there is a best anything, I think he truly deserves to win in the category nonetheless.

In Conclusion

If you want to see a good documentary about an interesting couple with tons of heart, heartache, joy, success, struggle and emotion, American Symphony is a fantastic choice. It’s moving and enjoyable and it simply proves there is no one else on earth like John Batiste.

Symphonically yours,

Slick Dungeon