It’s hard to imagine approaching a couple-hour documentary about the man who has had his finger on the pulse of the music, film and activist culture for nearly all eight decades of his life. It’s even harder to fathom approaching such a project when the subject is your father.
Rashida Jones, of “Parks and Recreation” fame, wanted to create a film that highlighted the soul of her father, the esteemed composer Quincy Jones. Much has been made about his work but little about the spirit behind it and who better to have an all-access pass that his own daughter. Working with co-director Adam Hicks, who had worked with Quincy on his latest project, “Keep On Keeping On,” Jones has created a transformative time capsule of a film that shows the resiliency of music and the worlds we can both escape and expose.
Our first glimpse of Quincy is a man still full of life but is slowly losing the ability to enjoy it. His constant drinking and relative disregard for his diabetic eating restrictions lands him in the hospital more than once. Footage of him in the hospital recorded by Jones seems like a requisite addition but the nature of it feels intrusive. However, it was never meant to end up in the documentary, but for Jones and her brother to show their father how low he had fallen and how important it was for him to never allow himself back to that place.
But the second glimpse of Quincy, after his operations and sworn promises, is magnificent. Now he is a man with fire under his feet, prompted mainly by an assignment from the Smithsonian Museum of African-American Culture to produce a show to celebrate its opening. The museum and the ceremony, around which the documentary ultimately centers around, become a symbol for a community that Quincy has helped nurture and grow.
In between the unfolding process of the museum’s opening, the film allows Quincy to narrate his own life through endless archival footage that he collected himself. It’s a nice touch to hear from all eras of Quincy about the way he has paid forward every generosity extended his way and how he has grown stronger from every downfall.
The overall feel and format of the documentary could easily come across as similar to the ever-growing numbers of films on musicians but, if there is one takeaway, there is no one quite like Quincy and that individuality infuses itself in the occasionally trite documentary techniques. And, it goes without saying, you won’t find a better soundtrack.
Elena Burnett is the Editor-in-Chief of District. She’s a writing major who will graduate in 2019.
