Sweet and Lowdown (1999)

Woody Allen makes beautiful music but only fitful comedy with his story of "the second greatest guitar player in the world." Sean Penn plays Emmett Ray, an irresponsible, womanizing swing guitar player in Depression-era America who is guided by an ego almost as large as his talent. "I'm an artist, a truly great artist," he proclaims time and time again, and when he plays, soaring into a blissed-out world of pure melodic beauty, he proves it. Samantha Morton almost steals the film as his mute girlfriend Hattie, a sweet Chaplinesque waif who loves him unconditionally, and Uma Thurman brings haughty moxie to her role as a slumming socialite and aspiring writer who's forever analyzing Emmett's peculiarities (like taking his dates to shoot rats at the city dump). The vignettelike tales are interspersed with comments by jazz aficionados and critics, but this is less a Zelig-like mockumentary than an extension of the self-absorbed portraits of Deconstructing Harry and Celebrity. The lazy pace drags at times and the script runs dry between comic centerpieces--the film screams for more of Allen's playful invention--but there's a bittersweet tenderness and an affecting vulnerability that is missing from his other recent work. Shot by Zhao Fei (The Emperor and the Assassin, Raise the Red Lantern), it's one of Allen's most gorgeous and colorful films in years, buoyed by toe-tapping music and Penn's gruffly charming performance. --Sean Axmaker Amazon.com

Not So Far From the Truth

I've loved this movie and the music in it since first seeing it shortly after it was released. Recently I learned that many of the odd little events were not so far from reality being based upon real events in Django Reinhardt's life. The crescent-moon chair is very close to the star that Django had built but then was afraid to actually use. Just as Emmett Ray was a cleptomaniac the real-life Django was skilled at "informal procurement" and was pleased when his youngest son showed a talent for the same. :)

I'm sure that none of us can even imagine the background that Django came from but Emmett Ray certainly brings to life a character that faced equally difficult challenges while having a rough start in life on the American side of the pond. Add in the "ego of genuius" and you have a volatile, yet delightful mix. I've known a lot of Jazz guitarists and Sean Penn's characterization of the fictional Emmett Ray is not all that far from reality.

If you love music, especially Jazz guitar, you will probably enjoy this movie. Also, if you enjoy a character that is clueless, insanely egotistic and ultmately lovable, look no further than Sean Penn's portrayal of the American Django, Emmett Ray. January 4, 2009

Emmet Ray: Wanna go to the dump and shoot some rats?

Woody Allen's "Sweet and Lowdown" (1999), a fictional biopic about "the world's second best jazz guitarist," Emmet Ray is sweet, funny, dramatic, filled with fantastic music and is simply terrific. "Sweet and Lowdown" reminds "Bullets over Broadway" (1994), another Allen's period movie set in the nostalgic area of great jazz and gangsters who understood and supported art and the artists, at least to the certain points. Sean Penn gave IMO his best performance as the man as talented as he was egotistic and self-centered. Creating and performing brilliantly the clear, magical, and melancholic guitar compositions, Emmett Ray (Penn) was also busy with kleptomania, a little pimping on the side, dealing with gangsters, shooting rats and watching passing trains as his favorite hobbies, and also drinking, and chasing girls. Young Samantha Morton who was only 21 and ironically never seen any Allen's movie prior to taking a role of Penn's mute girlfriend-laundress, had to do all the acting with her face, eyes, and body language and was she good. The unrequited tender and all-forgiving love has the face, and that's Samantha's face in Woody Allen's bittersweet, comical and poignant Fake documentary about a true talent which was larger than the man who possessed it.

April 30, 2008

The Beginning of a Tsunami

It may be Woody Allen's second best film, next to Annie Hall and is at least partly responsible for a popular resurgence of interest in the legendary Romany guitar virtuoso, Django Reinhardt. Enough has been written about the film's wonderful cinematography, fine performances by Sean Penn and Samantha Morton and Mr. Allen's brilliant direction. Here I would like to emphasize the real star of the film: the music, as arranged and played by Howard Alden, one of the great new-generation jazz guitarists helping to bring about the revival of jazz Manouche, or Gypsy jazz.

Sweet and Lowdown helped create a new audience for this once ubiquitous European style, the almost singular creation of Django Reinhardt, swing jazz violinist Stephane Grappelli and the other house musicians of the now historic Parisian nightspot, Le Hot Club du France. A volatile amalgam of Romany folk melodies, musette dance tunes and newly-imported American jazz (which arrived in France shortly after 'the Great War') Django's music took fire in the nineteen thirties, surviving the Nazi occupation and thriving well into the post-WWII era. The death of Django Reinhardt in 1953 and the emergence of bebop effectively ended the public love affair with jazz Manouche, which all but vanished as record collectors snapped up the surviving 78s and only a few poorly mastered LP recordings survived.

But Django's solos, his amazing technique and signature tunes would survive over the decades in the Romany caravans from which it came, to resurface in the past decade as the Hot Club Revival, drawing increasingly large gatherings of musicians and fans to Django festivals, Django Jazz camps and nightclubs all over the world featuring Gypsy Jazz Nights. After digitally remastered CDs brought Reinhardt's prolific recordings back to the mainstream and a new generation of jazz musicians discovered the joys of playing this challenging style, the revival took root. Now there is a new generations of Gypsy jazz guitarists such as Bireli Lagrene, Angelo DeBarre, Stochelo Rosenberg and others, who are responsible for keeping the flame alive.

Howard Alden did an amazing job recreating the sound and energy of Hot Club swing, providing a much deeper level of authenticity to what, in the wrong hands, could have been just another shallow period piece. The cars and clothes may have a vintage look and feel, but the music sounds fresh, vibrant and extremely listenable, even to the uninitiated ear.

If you haven't seen this film, you're in for a treat. Afterwards, you may want to venture out to hear more of this incredible music, thereby joining the tidal wave of Django enthusiasts literally sweeping the music world. And that wave isn't cresting any time soon.

-Bill Barnes April 18, 2008

Masterful

Sweet and Lowdown is a masterful film, only let down slightly by sagging in one or two places. Like most of Woody Allen's films, it is rich in comedy, albeit more subtle than some of his earlier efforts. It tells the story of Emmet Ray, the world's second best jazz guitarist in a fictional documentary style, with asides from Allen and others who comment on the protagonist's life. Jazz is one of Allen's consuming passions (as most people know, he is an accomplished clarinet player himself) and partially due to this he admits to a missing nostalgia for the 1930s, missing out on experiencing that period (Allen was born in 1935).

Great art usually comes out of the artist's most personal passions, as a result, Allen reprises the era superbly: the locations, automobiles, jazz clubs, towns and parties are recreated in glorious warmth. The dialogue is sharp, honed down and witty so it slips down like a glass of bourbon. Sean Penn is superb as Emmet, the egotistical guitarist, who plays with a sprightly, engaged look of puzzlement on his face. He cares for no one except himself, 'look, I'm not the marrying sort, it leaves me cold'. Realising that girls go for arrogant, artistically gifted men, he uses his talents to manipulate women. That is, until he meets charming mute laundress, Hattie, who captivates him with her silence. After she makes an unlikely break into Hollywood, Emmet becomes jealous. In turn he leaves her, but realises he has blown his best chance of happiness, and his relationships with other, more intellectually inquisitive women lead to a downhill spiral in his life.

This is a finely written character movie, the escapades of Emmet are brilliantly commented on by Allen, who, as ever, is sublime at parodying those wannabe tough intellectuals who pontificate on low life culture - 'The thing with these emigre stories, you never know how much is made up...' and the acting is first rate througout. Allen does a fine job in producing a film about the perils of artistic genius, which is far superior to his attempt to do the same about Celebrity, in that other lousy epoymous film of his.

April 19, 2007

is that all i can give it-5 stars?

Samantha Morton is so good in this you'll cry.
you'll laugh too so how can you beat that?
Sean Penn gives a fantastic portrayal of the worlds'
2nd best guitarist who also happens to be a jerk.
Uma Thurman is great as a writer exploring every
possible motive into human behavior.
Woody and several other talking heads give
periodical narration throughout the movie.
I saw this movie when it came out and was struck
what an excellent story it was with such superb acting.
and seeing it again recently many years later it did not
loose one bit of it's dramatic or comedic touches.
absolutely one of Woody's best! December 26, 2006

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