Born To Be Blue

Very few people know this, except for some of my family members, and some friends. When i was around 16 years old, i listened a lot to acid jazz. I bought albums of The Brand New Heavies, Jamiroquai and Incognito. The 90´s was a popluar time for the acid jazz sound, mixing soul, pop with jazz influences. I may not have been listening to traditional jazz music, but i enjoyed the jazz sound in songs, especially in the british band Jamiroquai. I have an example of a song i still enjoy even today. On the 1994 album The Return Of The Space Cowboy, there is a song called Manifest Destiny. This song is magical in some ways. The pure sound, where singer Jay Kay digs deeper into his jazz roots, is just lovely. The lyrics speaks a truth you won´t find in many songs in today´s society. When the 90´s ended, the acid jazz scene did not survive the top charts anymore. These bands are still around, but they usually play different styles today. Except for Incognito, they have released acid jazz albums for many years. Jazz music have influenced a lot of musicians, did you know that Limp Bizkit drummer John Otto found his inspiration to music from jazz? Interesting, i suppose you can tell by his drummer style that he might have jazz influences, if you listen carefully. Jazz music have a lot of legends to be mentioned, from the glory days where jazz music was very popular. Some of the jazz musicians we should mention, are of course Louis Armstrong, Miles Davis, Art Blakely, Clark Telly among some of the legends. There are so many that it would take forever to mention all the greatest. But let us focus on one man in particular at this moment. Have some of you heard of jazz musician Chet Baker ? A legendary jazz trumpet player, who also played flugenhorn. I can honestly say that i have not heard a lot of albums with Chet Baker, probably because i never really listened to pure jazz albums. But i know he is a legend in the jazz industry, and still today make a younger generation want to play jazz music. For those of you who knew his lifestyle, he died tragically in 1988, while he was in Amsterdam. His drug problems never stopped completely, and we all know that a lot of musicians have lost their lives where drugs are involved. About 5 months ago i started reading online about a new film, based on the life of Chet Baker, with Ethan Hawke in the lead role. This sounded really interesting, since i am a big fan of Ethan Hawke. I also noticed that this film, simply called Born To The Blue, is directed by Robert Dubreau. He directed an interesting short film called The Deaths Of Chet Baker back in 2009. With this combination, a really good actor with a fascinating director, and a very interesting story included, is this a film that should get more attention ? Or does the cover fool you and deliver something completely uninteresting ?

Chet Baker ( Ethan Hawke ) becomes a respected name in the world of jazz, for his uniqe style of playing the trumpet. He keeps getting gigs, and people loves his music, but there is another side of his life. His addiction for heroine, and new women, makes a big impact on his life. He meets actress Jane Azuka ( Carmen Ejogo ) and begin a romantic relationship with her. As he walks out from a bowling alley one night, Chet is attacked by thugs and they break his teeth. The results of this, is that he can´t play the trumpet no more. He needs to start all over, both trying to get his life together, and his health. But the question is, can he get it all together, or is he running out of time ?

Ethan Hawke have a very interesting catalogue in his movie career. Most of the time he always deliver, no matter what genre he decides to take on. 2 of the films i remember him mostly from is Training Day and Before The Devil Knows You´re Dead. I also enjoyed his performance a lot in the film Good Kill, a film not many people noticed. After watching Born To The Blue, i can honestly say that i am really pleased. Ethan Hawke is fantastic as Chet Baker, this might be one of his greatest performances in many years. That he manage to play a junkie musician so well, shows that he really knows how to take on dark characters. The film is described to be semi-fictional, so everything we see may not be exactly the way Chet Baker lived. But it does not matter, this film is so powerful and emotional, you can´t deny the impact that the film gives the viewer. For example, a scene in a bathtub, after Chet have had health issues, that scene is one of the moments you won´t forget. Director Robert Dubreau have directed a lot of short films, and one feature film called That Beautiful Somewhere. I have not seen this film, but i did see his short film The Deaths Of Chet Baker, a short film on the last days of Chet Bakers life. A really good short film, with really good acting. You can watch it on Youtube, if you want to see it. Now, Robert Dubreau is obviously fascinated by the life of Chet Baker, and you can tell that by his vision of his film Born To Be Blue. He digs deep into the musician, and try to give us an image of who he was, and his life filled with pain. Instead of just focusing on making music scenes, he tries to give us a more personal look. And this is something i am really pleased about. If you are making a biographical film, do it with depth, and emotions. When the darkness around Chet Baker becomes more obvious, you can´t leave your seat with such powerful scenes in his addiction for drugs and women. Ethan Hawke is simply outstanding as the legendary jazz musician, his facial expressions, his body language, and his dialogue, all fits together. Just listen to some of the dialogue, with the acting quality, this is exactly what we want. We also have some really good acting from the cast, take Kedar Brown as an example. His few scenes as Miles Davis is something i would have liked to see more of. Maybe he can make a film based on Miles Davis in the future ? Carmen Ejogo, playing 2 characters here, also does a wonderful job behind the camera. Born To The Blue is one of the best films of this year so far, you don´t find acting on this level very often, so i highly recommend you buy this film on dvd, or blu ray. If Ethan Hawke is not nominated at film festivals for his performance, something must be terribly wrong. He deserves a nomination, and you need to see this film.

Rating: DDDD