One of the main things director Mark Brown’s music documentary has going against it is that it’s a very niche film. Even fans most open to music will find watching this documentary very polarizing in that it chronicles a world that seems very exclusive to only a select few that understand the music form. “Bayo” is set on a young reggae artist that director Mark Brown finds oddly fascinating, and true to the documentary, Bayo is the center of many people’s fascinations, and is something of a celebrity within the music circuit he’s entrenched in. While I really have nothing against this musical form, “Bayo” doesn’t do much to appeal to a broader audience curious to the music’s appeal.
Director Brown manages to direct the documentary well with very good production qualities, but the film as a whole will be mostly a foreign and unrelatable topic to audiences that aren’t even vaguely familiar with the musical art form and the culture surrounding it. “Bayo” is set on the musical artist Bayo, a young reggae prodigy whose charisma and talents have garnered him acclaim and a following in the musical scene. Brown doesn’t really seem to pose much of a reasoning for wanting to create a documentary on Bayo other than the project began as a music video and then turned in to a documentary.
Perhaps to act as a kind of press kit for Bayo to help promote his abilities. The documentary as a means of translating why this world is so special to him doesn’t really convey what it wants to, thus in the end it’s still a world we’re never familiar with. Even the most unusual rock documentaries are able to bring the audience in to the realm of understanding as to why the music and art forms are so beloved, but “Bayo” really just seems like it’s fixed to one specific audience group, and only that group. Bayo is surely an interesting and unique young artist with a love for the music and the art form, but beyond that the documentary never feels like anything more than an effort to help garner wider attention to the singer.
I would have really loved to find out more about Bayo, and why the music speaks to him. But the documentary mostly follows him around as he sings, performs, and approaches every day life without really positing why we should even really want to spend our time getting to know him and his persona so well. Why should Bayo appeal to us? And why should we be on the look out for him? What do others see in him that we should, too? “Bayo” is definitely a well directed and put together music documentary, but one that really doesn’t garner a broader mindset for a wider audience. Thus, it’ll mostly be appreciated by hardcore aficionados of this culture.