Thankfully, this Ethan Hawke-directed documentary has nothing to do with the rambling J.D. Salinger novella of the same title. Instead, we meet Seymour Bernstein (born in 1927), a classical pianist and teacher with a mesmerizing voice and gentle philosophies regarding integrating art into one’s life.
But why, exactly, did Hawke choose Bernstein? The actor (he appears in the documentary only a few times, which is probably for the best) shares that in the last few years, he had been existentially questioning his craft and struggling with stage fright, and then he was invited to a dinner and seated next to Bernstein—their conversation that evening helped him “more than anyone in [his] own profession had been able to.”
And Bernstein is a lovely human. Though immensely talented and celebrated as a pianist, he quit performing concerts when he was 50 (it had to do with chronic stage fright, but also discontent with the commercial aspect of a career in music) in order to focus on teaching and simply playing.
We meet Bernstein’s past students (talking) and present students (playing), visit the one-room New York apartment he has lived in for 57 years (he folds up the sofa bed and rearranges the living room every day), and, in a sequence that is far more interesting than it sounds, watch him choose a Steinway piano for his 2012 Hawke-arranged return to the stage.
Bernstein also touches on his past—he spent time in the military in Korea where he eventually played concerts for the soldiers on the front lines; he once had a wealthy and eccentric patron who fell in love with him and suffocated him with lavish gifts—and goes on articulately about integrating art fully into one’s life.
All 81 minutes of Seymour: An Introduction are fascinating to watch, even though the soothing pace doesn’t ever seem to settle on a “point” exactly, other than that this sweet, serene person exists and is offering us something to think about. Which may be all you need for a conclusion. 
