‘Billy Joel: And So It Goes:' 5 Takeaways From the Film's Conclusion

New York Times

5 days ago

The second part of the sprawling documentary 'Billy Joel: And So It Goes' ends before the musician's recent announcement that he has the brain disorder normal pressure hydrocephalus. That is to say, if you're looking for an update on Joel's health, the film by Susan Lacy and Jessica Levin, which HBO aired on Friday night (and is streaming on HBO Max), does not provide one.
But Joel, in a podcast interview with Bill Maher earlier this week, is seen playing the piano. 'It's not fixed,' he said of his condition, but it's 'being worked on,' and he assured fans: 'I feel good.' 'They keep referring to what I have as a brain disorder, so it sounds a lot worse than what I'm feeling,' he added, likening the sensation to being on a boat with poor balance.
While the first half of the film, which premiered in June at the Tribeca Festival, focused on the little-told story of how Joel's relationship with his first wife, Elizabeth Weber, shaped the early days of his career, the second covers more familiar territory. Starting with the production of 'The Nylon Curtain' in 1982, it chronicles his much discussed marriages to Christie Brinkley and Katie Lee Biegel, his well-documented struggles with alcohol, the betrayal of his manager Frank Weber, his decision to retire from the road and eventual return to live performance following the '12-12-12' benefit concert for Hurricane Sandy relief.
And still, the nearly two-and-a-half-hour exploration of his life and career makes time to delve into his complicated relationship with his father, Howard, as well as his retreat from producing new pop music and the influence of classical compositions on his work. Here are five takeaways.
The Holocaust looms large in Joel's family history.
Joel's Jewish identity comes into play heavily during the second part of the documentary, specifically with regard to his fraught relationship with his father, Howard Joel. He describes how in his mid-20s he discovered that his paternal grandfather, Karl Joel, had a textile factory in Nuremberg. The family lived next to the park where the Nuremberg rallies were held and Joel speculates about the trauma his father must have endured watching those unfold as a young Jewish boy. Joel's grandfather was targeted by Nazi propaganda newspaper Der Stürmer and was forced to sell his business, though he was never paid. The Joels escaped Germany over the Swiss border and the factory was ultimately used to manufacture the striped uniforms for prisoners in concentration camps.
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