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Round Midnight

1986, Movie, R, 133 mins

Round Midnight: Review

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ROUND MIDNIGHT might easily be called the best jazz film ever made, and not only because, aside from 1988's BIRD, the competition is so weak. The film's quality lies not just in its vivid portrayal of the bebop milieu, but also in its sensitive examination of the turbulent forces within an artist compelled to create on a nightly basis, despite personal consequences. Dedicated to jazz greats Lester Young and Bud Powell, the film begins in 1959 as black bebop jazzman Dale Turner (Dexter Gordon), "the greatest tenor saxophone player in the world," leaves New York City for Paris. Alcoholic, ill, and apparently a former heroin addict, Turner plays nightly at Paris' famous Blue Note club to adoring fans, who appreciate his and his fellow expatriates' music. One of his most fervent admirers, Francis (Francois Cluzet), forms a close friendship with Turner, who moves in with him. Together the two try to bring Turner's self-destructive impulses under control, until Turner decides to risk a return to the US. The irony of ROUND MIDNIGHT--a sadly familiar one recognized in the plot--is that it took a Frenchman, director-cowriter and jazz lover Betrand Tavernier, to make this most accurate and intelligent film about the distinctly American art of jazz. Casting musicians (including Wayne Shorter, Tony Williams, Ron Carter, and Herbie Hancock, who did the Oscar-winning score) as his actors and insisting that the music be recorded live on the set with cameras rolling, Tavernier captures the complex relations among the players at work; the process has never been shown so well in a narrative film. Turner (an amalgam of various figures, including Young, Powell, and Gordon himself) is brilliantly played by the great Gordon, who contributed much of the dialogue, suggested changes in the script, and eventually received a Best Actor Oscar nomination. The aging Gordon's playing is well below the standards of his prime, but the soundtrack became a best seller anyway. leave a comment
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