Sunday, May 15, 2011

SWEET AND LOWDOWN (1999)

We don’t know much about him but Jazz music aficionados of 1930’s regarded him as the second greatest guitar player in the world next to Django Reinhardt. The reason why Emmet Ray, a little known jazz guitarist flourished briefly in 1930s didn’t become famous as other Jazz artists of it’s time lies in his sheer weirdness and unprofessional approach. He loved playing either for live audience or for self rather than recording it to made copied by some dumb amateurs. Great artists are impulsive and have whims and fancies of their own. So Emmet was occasional kleptomaniac, he had fascination of watching trains, he fancied about getting entry on show with crescent moon, he loves shooting rats and above all he lived with a mute girlfriend named Hattie. Though she’s genuinely sweet person, he ended up marrying with Blanche who after few years ended up with an affair with a gangster. Nevertheless Emmet's first and last love remained for his guitar only. Any woman would be second to his music. He never feel pain leaving any of his woman, such was the ego of genius.

Written and directed by Woody Allen, it’s light, funny, sweet, romantic, artistic and wonderfully restraint bio-pic made but what’s more beautiful about film is fantastic jazz guitar strumming running throughout the movie; absolutely soothing to your ears. Kudos to the Maestro. Narrated in his routine punctured documentary style based on loosely available records, it takes us to have few glances of Emmet’s life in 30’s American setting. Its fun watching Sean Penn as Emmet, one of his most amiable acts ever, its fine surprise for his fans too. Worth to mention fine supporting act of Samantha Morton as sweet mute Hattie.

Ratings-7/10

No comments: