PFF32 documentaries: Reviewing 'American Symphony,' 'Silver Dollar Road,' 'Copa 71,' and 'Break the Game'

Looking at four nonfiction films that were part of the 2023 Philadelphia Film Festival

The Philadelphia Film Festival wrapped up on Sunday, and the program was notable for featuring a very strong documentary lineup. Here are some highlights: 

American Symphony 

This doc, directed by Matthew Heineman, follows a year in the life of Jon Batiste, the Grammy-winning musician and bandleader. And it’s a very eventful time for the longtime Stephen Colbert bandleader- he swept the Grammys, composed the symphony of the title, and stood by the side of his wife, the journalist Suleika Jaouad, as she battled cancer. 

It can be hard to keep the balance in covering all of these things, but Heineman manages it. And it helps that he has chosen such a compelling subject. 

When it comes to Netflix movies from this festival, and this season, that is about a brilliant composer, his cancer-stricken wife, and a key scene at Carnegie Hall, American Symphony is right up there with Maestro. American Symphony hits Netflix at the end of November and is one of the best documentaries this year. 

Silver Dollar Road

Raoul Peck, who made one of the best documentaries of the decade a few years ago with I Am Not Your Negro, returns with his first feature since, an adaptation of ProPublica reporting about a family in North Carolina that was kicked off their land after several generations. 

The film, which landed on Prime Video in mid-October, shows great compassion for its subjects, while also contextualizing the history. It's a movie that shows, once again, that so much of the history of American racism — and not only in the South— involves real estate, who can own it, and who can’t. 

Silver Dollar Road is streaming on Prime Video.

Copa 71 

This one, directed by Rachel Ramsay and James Erskine, is something of a Summer of Soul for women’s soccer: It’s a documentary, featuring old footage, of the women’s World Cup in 1971. The event, held in Mexico, was not an officially sanctioned World Cup — the first wouldn’t be held until 1991 — mostly because the leadership of FIFA at the time had deep and public contempt for women’s soccer. 

The film features interviews with several of the players, along with the game footage, while the film ends poignantly, with the 1971 players attending the Women’s World Cup in 2021, to see how far things have come. 

Venus and Serena Williams are executive producers, with Serena providing some narration, while more recent women’s players like Alex Morgan and Brandi Chastain are interviewed. At the beginning, the film does the Last Dance thing where Chastain is handed an iPad, is shown a video clip, and asked to react to it. 

Chastain sees the crowd, and that it’s a women’s match, and it’s made clear that this longtime stalwart of the U.S. women’s national team had no idea the 1971 tournament had even happened. It’s a good moment, but I have to ask- why did Chastain think she was being interviewed? 

Copa 71 has no set release date yet. 

Break the Game 

I never thought I would care this much about a documentary about a video game streamer, yet here we are. 

Break the Game, directed by Jane M. Wagner, tells the story of Narcissa Wright, a gamer dedicated to setting new speed run records in different video games, including The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. 

Wright is also a trans woman, something that becomes controversial — and the subject of some pretty terrible harassment — once the gaming community gets wind of it. We see Wright dealing with that, as well as with a new relationship. 

The film is built from Wright’s own livestreams, as well as some original animation, and finds a compelling story where you would least expect it. 

Break the Game has no set release date.