The renowned jazz musician Joe Albany was the only white pianist to have ever played bepop with the great Charlie Parker. It was height of the success that Albany achieved but something that is merely hinted at in this new sobering biopic that focuses more on the musician’s struggle with his addiction to alcohol and drugs that eventually killed him at the age of 64 in 1988.
After Albany is arrested again for parole violations Amy takes refuge with her tough but kind maternal grandmother who still stands by her son regardless of the trouble he gets into. The next time he gets released he breaks the news to them that he is running off to Europe away from the long arm of the law and where his musicianship is respected.
The story picks up two years later when Albany arrives back in LA without any warning to crash at his mother’s tiny apartment again. He has enjoyed some considerable success in Europe having made several recordings but then gets deported ignominiously for possession of drugs. Amy now a young lady still lives with her Grandmother and has her first boyfriend. He’s also a musician but a result of regular beatings from his stepfather suffers from epileptic fits. Albany is sympathetic with his plight until the night the Police arrest the kid for mistaking a fit for a drunken rage, and Albany high as a kite, lets the whole family down yet again.
It’s more than a somewhat depressing story and one that has been stretched out too long by Cinematographer Jeff Preiss in his directing debut. Preiss had cut his jazz teeth on Bruce Weber’s acclaimed documentaries ‘Broken Noises’ and ‘Let’s Get Lost’ so his appreciation for Albany’s music was a foregone conclusion, and one of the movie’s best parts is the rather glorious soundtrack. Oscar nominee John Hawkes who looks uncannily like Albany was pitch perfect as the troubled soul who simply couldn’t help himself and who, when sober at least, tried so hard to be good single parent. He was beautifully matched by a very mature performance by Ellie Fanning as Amy the girl who had to grow up too quickly. The triangle was completed by the superb Glenn Close playing dowdy for a change as Albany’s blue-collared mother who knew she had to give up on her son in the end. This movie tells the story completely from Amy’s viewpoint and doesn’t attempt to provoke an ounce of sympathy for Albany its subject. In part its like being a voyeur to one long cathartic experience for Amy to deal with the demons of her childhood, and I’m not really sure it succeeds.
