My Review of "Miles Davis: The Birth of the Cool"

Miles Davis: The Birth of the Cool is a somewhat in depth look at the life of Miles Davis. There is so much information in this film that one has to wonder what they left on the cutting room floor when they made this documentary. It seemed like there was a lot of information was missing and they could have went into depth on so many different things but the runtime of the film held them back. It's a tough to balance entertainment, information and runtime when making documentaries like this.

This documentary starts off with a narration by an actor that portrays Miles Davis. He comes in with a raspy voice because Miles was known for his raspy voice. They talk about his humble beginnings but funny enough he didn't live in a life of poverty. Both his parents were professionals and he learned a lot of traits from them, both good and bad. They basically shaped who he became later on in life.

I found that the film did a good job in setting up the scenes later like this. Things weren't entirely a shock when they are reveal new things about Miles. They didn't shy away from the bad with the good either which is also a great reflection on the real Miles Davis. They of course don't really focus too much of his detrimental vices but they do reveal them because they're probably well known.

As the film continues we see Miles' adventure through music. There were many conflicts in terms of the way he wanted to learn about music. As a prodigy he was willing to learn from everyone from animals to prestigious music schools. The conflict of the issue was the fact that some believed that learning from an institution would drive the spirit of the music away. Fortunately Miles was able to meld conventional music with a more spirited freestyle feeling with his music. It was something that no one thought could be done and he was able to pull it off rather successfully.

As with most documentaries you hear testimonials from a number of people that knew and loved Miles. Some of them have become very prestigious musicians in their own right after they had worked with Miles.

They also gave us a nice montage of the current events whenever they advanced into later years. It's important because it gives us a sense of what was going on at the time when Miles was making music. Miles was well known for reinventing himself decade after decade. We see a lot of his influences and the reasons why he had chosen to venture off into different styles.

This is where I thought that they could have made the film a little longer. I recognize that they have to adhere to a runtime but some of the genres that Miles created seemed to have much more story. For the lack of time I understand why they didn't add the content but I think it would still be entertaining if they had separated the film to an episodic series. This way they can dive into either each of the eras with more detail or even the genre that they are talking about. They are definitely important phases in Miles' life and this guy seemed to have done so much.

With all this work I didn't even know how much of an impact Miles had on the improvement of black culture. He was a huge part of the acceptance of black people around the world. Despite the huge reputation and high status of his stature he was still subject to racism and bigotry. It was great to see how he was able to use some of his power to help raise the reputation and dignity of black people.

They go into some detail into his personal life as well. I'm sure there were a lot of stories that they couldn't air on the documentary though. Again he seemed like a guy that never stopped and there seemed to be so much missing in this department. There are times when they would have an interview of his loved ones telling a personal story of Miles but when it sort of got juicy they couldn't go on. This leads me to believe that they wanted to push this part of the story in this film but they couldn't for the lack of participation with the participants. That's fine, it is not really our business but you can't give us snippets and not expect us to want more.

Overall, I had a great time watching this film but it made me thirsty for more. That's not a bad thing when it comes to a documentary. It may lead me to do my own research to learn more about Miles. I have to give this documentary a 7.5 out of 10. Even non jazz enthusiasts can enjoy this documentary because it's a journey of an artist. An artist with very complicated circumstances. You won't believe it until you check it out.