Listening to Kenny G
2021 American documentary film
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Listening to Kenny G is a 2021 American documentary film, directed by Penny Lane. It is about the jazz musician Kenny G.
- Kenny Gorelick
- Clive Davis
- James Gardiner
| Listening to Kenny G | |
|---|---|
Promotional release poster | |
| Directed by | Penny Lane |
| Produced by | Gabriel Sedgwick |
| Starring |
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| Cinematography | Naiti Gámez |
| Edited by |
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| Music by | Charlie Rosen |
Production companies |
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| Distributed by | HBO |
Release dates | |
Running time | 97 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Production
Initially, Bill Simmons, the creator of HBO’s Music Box series, invited Penny Lane to make a music documentary. Lane chose Kenny G as the subject of the film because he is "a musician who is objectively popular, by way of record sales, but is also hated by the 'critical class'." Kenny G himself had no control of the content of the film.[1]
Release
Listening to Kenny G premiered at the 2021 Toronto International Film Festival.[2] The film screened at the Hamptons International Film Festival.[3] It aired on HBO as part of Bill Simmons' Music Box anthology.[4][5] It debuted on December 2, 2021 on HBO and was also available to stream on HBO Max.[6] It was screened as the opening night film at DOC NYC 2021.[7] It was released on December 11, 2021 on Binge in Australia.[8]
Reception
The New Yorker listed Listening to Kenny G as one of the best films of 2021.[9] Richard Brody of The New Yorker wrote, "By listening attentively to Kenny G, Lane delivers, in a buoyant, amiable way, a ferocious denunciation, one in which she herself doesn't voice a negative word—because he does most of the inadvertent, unconscious damning."[10]
Glenn Kenny of The New York Times wrote, "The movie's animating question is why a musician who has brought an abundance of pleasure to so many listeners makes so many others almost incoherently angry. Some interviewees, including Kenny G himself, imply that judgments against his work are de facto judgments of the people who love it. That's a specious conclusion, one which the movie could have unpacked better."[11]