Born to Be Blue

Great photography, good direction and decent acting gave substance to this movie, which unluckily suffered from a poor script. The plot is too diffuse and the characters appear to be poorly structured. While the idea of showing Chet Baker during his struggle to regain ability to play the trumpet is okay, the film focuses too much on the role of his relationship with Jane in his comeback. To the viewer it is never really clear why this relationship started and on what it is based on. Chet is presented from one direction, he doesn't really change during the movie and he is never really introduced, this leaves a gap that makes it harder to follow the character in his struggling.

Holy Chet! The Chet Baker biopic "Born to Be Blue" was a whopper of a film. Its suave style is reminiscent of another Baker jazzy film, which is the classic "The Fabulous Baker Boys". Chet Baker was a renowned trumpeter and jazz legend who had a near lifelong addiction to heroin. "Born to Be Blue" focuses on Baker in his 40's. His career has gone down the tubes, he gets brutally beaten by some drug dealers, and he cannot play his trumpet due to his injuries to his mouth. Baker then meets a beautiful aspiring actress named Jane who plays as an inspiration for Chet to get sober and make a jazzy comeback. Writer-Director Robert Budreau plays all the right tones in his direction and screenplay of the picture. Steve Cosens' cinematography was a picturesque mastery that should get him many encores to work in other movies. Ethan Hawke does not blow it at all as Baker; in fact, his Baker Act is the best performance of his illustrious career. His work as Baker is born to be an Oscar. Carmen Ejogo was sweet music to my ears in her performance as both Jane and Baker's ex-wife Elaine who was shown in flashbacks. Callum Keith Rennie manages to do some fine work as Baker's longtime manager Dick. The music of "Born to Be Blue" was a grand piece of Chet. I have no doubt that this movie will be in my Top 10 or even 5 of my favorite films of 2016. I was absolutely enamored with this stupendous movie! True "Born to Be Blue", baby I love you! ***** Excellent

1) Hawke sings like garbage, Chet sang brilliantly. 2) Why didn't they use the original Chet recordings, why re-record everything thus cheapening the music? 3) Why did the film makers and Ethan Hawke etc. not ask / get permission from The Chet Baker estate to make this film? Chet's son / family is trying to sue them now! as they should. I hope that they are successful. 4) Last and MOST IMPORTANTLY: read Artt Frank's book "Chet Baker The Missing Years" to get the TRUE story about Mr. Baker's life during this time period. When I watched this movie, after studying the music and life of Chet Baker since 1989, I considered the film's story line to be about 75% historically wrong. Now that I've just read Artt Frank's book, I assure you - it's at least 95% wrong. Completely wrong! This to me is a huge insult to one of Jazz music's all time greatest geniuses - Chet Baker. - Piano Man Larry Hunt, 10/25/16

Ethan Hawke stars in this beautifully acted portrayal of jazz trumpeter and singer Chet Baker during his prime. Know that the film treats the facts of Baker's actual biography, as one reviewer said, more like a chord chart than a score and riffs from there. What is true-to-life is that Baker was an only child, born on a lonely ranch in Yale, Oklahoma, and went on to have numerous relationships with women and a long-term relationship with heroin. Musically, he was a progenitor of West Coast Swing, but always had his eye on the New York scene, with the mantra: "Look out Dizzy, look out, Miles. There's a little white California boy coming for you." An accident when Baker was 12 caused him to lose a front tooth, after which he had to re-learn to play the trumpet. That was a mere warmup to the effort he had to put in after his drug dealer pistol-whipped him and knocked out all of his front teeth, destroying his embouchure. Yet, he couldn't stay away from heroin. He thought it made his playing better, and he was all about his music. While Baker had a great talent for improvisation and sustaining a melodic line, he had no talent at all for being happy. After one important comeback milestone, his manager (Callum Keith Rennie) asks, "Would you try to be happy for more than ten seconds?" This line provides the ironic overlay to the choice of title for the film, one of Baker's big hits. Hawke did the films vocals; the trumpet playing was by Canadian trumpeter Kevin Turcotte. Written and directed by Robert Budreau, the movie has an opening scene that shows how a girl he picked up after a performance casually introduced him to heroin, and he didn't say no. This scene turns out to be part of a movie being made about him and whether such a significant life event happened in such an offhand way, we don't know. The insertion of black and white scenes, some of which may be from the movie (which was never finished) or from his memory, plays with the order of events, especially early in the film, an improvisational approach to history that mimics jazz music itself. Although Baker does get clean for a several years as he is recovering his playing ability, a return to heroin remains a risk in the music business. As his parole officer says, "You go into a barber shop and sit in the chair long enough, you're going to get a haircut." Still, his parole officer, his girlfriend—the delectable Carmen Ejogo (playing a composite of several women)—his manager, and many musicians wanted him to succeed, including Dizzie Gillespie and Gerry Mulligan. Miles Davis, notoriously prickly, was not a fan, and we'll get a chance to get his side of the story in the biopic with Don Cheadle, coming soon.