American Symphony (2023) review

Documentarian Heineman follows New Orleans' own Jon Batiste on his unique musical journey as he tries to put together his first symphony while his wife Suleika Jaouad, a writer, receives treatment for leukemia (which she was originally diagnosed with at 22) at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.  It goes without saying that the music is lovely (Batiste was formerly the bandleader for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and won an Oscar for co-composing the score for Pixar's Soul ... and he's got a few Grammy Awards too) and Suleika's situation is heartbreaking, but there's a lot missing from the presentation, and it never really delves into its subject's creative process in any sort of meaningful way.  The bulk of the "emotional weight" is placed on his spouse's battle, and you have to wonder if the scene where she asks a song be turned off because "it feels emotionally manipulative" was a subconscious self-critique on behalf of the director.