'It All Begins With A Song' is a documentary film from director Chusy which aims to bring into the spotlight the writers of hit songs.. the ones we don't know the names of, we have never seen them, but they are responsible for million-dollar selling hits from top and high profile popular music singers.
It's actually quite a good idea, and using Nashville as his stomping ground.. since Nashville is considered by many to be the oasis of nascent and established great songwriters in America - not just, as we tend to think of here in the UK, for Country music, but all genres of popular music from Elvis to Rihanna! We get a little inside insight as to how the business works too which is most helpful and interesting.
The documentary starts well, but soon slips into a rather tired and predictable format, and does seem to be somewhat repetitive and superficial. The reason for this I feel is that the interviewer doesn't spend enough time with each songwriter and we get to hear from too many thus incurring repetition and mundaneness.That's a shame, because as far as I can tell, the raison d'etre of the film is to enthuse the viewer with the joy and craft of songwriting, highlighting tips and insight from those who have made it big (even if we don't know their names!).It would have been preferable to have perhaps heard from only a few of the writers and gone on a more meaningful journey with them during the course of this 90 minute video.
There is some respite in the film as we cut from couch interviews to fly-on-the-wall docu style, whilst every now and again there is archive footage of Nashville or a performance of one the songs being talked about by the artiste who made it famous; but what makes it more real and perhaps also special is the odd occasion when the songwriters themselves play or sing the songs they wrote.
What makes a good song asks the documentary. Well, that's the million dollar question to which there is no answer. It's different for everyone, but you instinctively know when you've got it right. "Songwriting's a bitch; and then it has puppies."
A very well-intentioned documentary which could have been highly illuminating and different, but kept to conformity, cliche and superficiality sadly.
Reviewer - Chris Benchley
on - 16/8/20
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