Five-time Academy Award winner John Williams is arguably the greatest film composer of all-time. A new documentary on his life and career, “Music by John Williams” (now streaming on Disney+), is one of my favorite movie experiences of 2024. It recently won the Critics Choice Documentary Award for Best Music Documentary, a well-deserved honor.
Director Laurent Bouzereau (who also did the HBO Faye Dunaway doc that was released earlier this year) does a fantastic job chronicling Williams’ many, many professional achievements, while also showing a delicate, emotional personal side. Through it all, we see Williams’ dedication to his craft — his knowledge, passion and enthusiasm for the work that he’s created.
And we’ve all been blessed to hear it, in some of our favorite movies, TV shows and moments in popular culture. He has inspired so many musicians and filmmakers, most notably Steven Spielberg. Stories about their collaborations over five decades are some of the highlights of “Music by John Williams”, along with great archival studio footage.
But the impact goes far beyond Spielberg — it reaches everyone. Everyone who’s seen “Star Wars”, “Jurassic Park”, “Schindler’s List” and “Home Alone”, and who has heard the themes to “Harry Potter” and the Olympic Games. To all who have attended a Boston Pops concert. When you hear these compositions again in “Music by John Williams”, they bring you right back to the first time you heard them… those memories and feelings come flooding back… and it’s quite powerful.
Williams is so talented. There’s a moment in the doc where he’s just talking about five specific notes on a piano. He’s teaching us what sounds good and what doesn’t. It’s a masterclass, just in that little section. I would’ve liked even more of that. In the final portion of the film he talks about the future of music in film. Williams’ career and approach to the art form is almost like a throwback, to a classier time in movie music, and movies and history in general. There’s not going to be anyone else like him. And I can’t believe Williams hasn’t won an Oscar since “Schindler’s List” 30 years ago. Maybe about a year from now he’ll receive an Honorary Oscar.
LCJ GRADE: A-
Running Time: 105 min.