Music by John Williams

DVD bonus feature virtuoso Laurent Bouzereau, who graduated to feature-length documentaries with his disappointing adaptation of Mark Harris's Five Came Back) takes a look at the career of the most well-known, prolific, successful, and (yes) varied composer of film music. The 92-year-old Williams is the primary interview subject of the film, and his gentle, modest personality and love of his life and career come through with crystal clarity. We also hear from many who've worked with Williams and been inspired by him, especially his earliest champion, the much younger Steven Spielberg. This is one of those reverential documentaries that streamers love to produce (especially Disney+), but the unreserved praise feels earned in this case.

Of course, it would have been great to hear at least some voices of dissent, as not every cinema-lover or classical music aficionado has an uncritical view of Williams or his work. Many consider him a knockoff artist, a purveyor of saccharine shmaltz, and a manipulative orchestrator who crams music into places where it doesn't need to be. Since I don't share those opinions, I can't say I miss hearing them in this film all that much. But the only time we get even the slightest hint of anything discordant is when Bouzereau touches on his initial posting and brief resignation from the position of Boston Pops conductor because of tensions between himself and the orchestra's old guard of players. I would have loved to have actually heard from someone representing their position rather than the incident simply being used to point out how there used to be a bright line between elevated "authentic" classical music and low-brow film music until William's scores all but erased that line.

There has always been something opaque about Williams' persona. He has always presented as so soft-spoken and positive that he could come off as a flighty, hippy type, especially during his early years. I always wondered if there was something deeper, possibly darker, that lurked under this public persona since his music is so emotional, evocative, and passionate, but this film feels thorough enough to assuage that curiosity. Bouzereau gives us a pretty well-rounded picture of William's family life (though only his eldest daughter grants an interview), his professional collaborations, and why he's such a driven workaholic. The answer seems to be, if genius came as easy to you as it does to him, and you enjoyed your work as much as he does, why would you not do it as much as you possibly can? As someone who loves Williams' scores, I had a smile on my face for the entire running time of this picture.