Where Are You, Jay Bennett?

I saw the premier in Chicago and enjoyed the thorough, emotional filmmaking. Jay Bennett was a musical genius and the filmmakers did a great job showcasing his unique personality. Highly recommend this for Wilco fans or music fans in general.

I love Jay's music from early Wilco and the Mermaid Avenue sessions straight through to his later solo work, and I wish his talents were better-known. This film colored in additional detail about his life that made me appreciate his work all the more. What a tragedy that he was taken from us at a time when his life was on an upswing. While this film led me to revisit the previous documentary with fresh eyes, to me there are no villains in this story, just the sadness and resignation of well-meaning, extremely talented people drifting apart. Actually, scratch that: the villain in the story is the U. S. healthcare system.

I'll admit as a huge Wilco fan (and therefore a bit "protective" of Jeff Tweedy maybe?) I was nervous to see this film as I thought it might position Tweedy as the villain and Jay as the hero (to flip the script from I Am Trying To Break Your Heart). But this film didn't do that. It was an intricate study of a complex person who happened to be a multi-instrumental genius singer-songwriter. It helped fill in so much of the picture of someone who was instrumental (no pun intended) in pushing Wilco to its highest heights - but also someone who, ultimately, seemed to have an insatiable desire to constantly push boundaries and ride the lightning in such a way that just was not sustainable in a band context. I feel more empathy for Jay certainly than I did before this film, and I also understand my favorite band (and why the Jay era is my favorite era) better. It is artfully done but not precious - great use of live concert footage, interviews, animation, and music. The only thing I think would have improved it was hearing from other collaborators who knew or worked with Jay but as documentary fillmmakers you can't control who will or won't speak to you! Very engaging and I look forward to owning the DVD when it comes out, I will watch it again and will definitely delve into the extra footage.

Great, unbiased film that tells the story of Jay Bennett whose influence on Wilco's records like Being There, Summerteeth and Yankee Hotel Foxtrot helped evolve Wilco to where they are today. A true artist.

Jay Bennett is one of the least known geniuses of popular music. His name should be mentioned in the same breath as Brian Wilson and Brian Eno, but he has been unfairly cast, by an earlier documentary film, as the necessary villain of the early Wilco story. A poignant, moving, celebration of a true innovator in music who tragically passed before his time. Where Are You, Jay Bennett? Is the product of 10 years of work, and it shows. I've just attended the world premiere and I can say, without doubt, that this is a story that needed to be told.