Round Midnight
I think it’s fair to suggest that if they’re any musical genre that it’s hard to transition to film accurately, it’s jazz. It has a tangled, complicated history and it’s tangled, complicated music that has many different tiers of understanding. Round Midnight succeeds in part because it’s not strictly about jazz, it’s about jazz musicians and the lifestyle that came with the territory in the 50s (Paris, in this case). As such, addiction, devotion and self-destruction are all major themes. Again, in this case, an established musician plays the key role, legendary saxophone player Dexter Gordon and he absolutely nails both sides of the job description.
The music for the film was all composed by Herbie Hancock and he does an unsurprisingly amazing job of reflecting the rippling, experimental nature of 50s jazz, more than that though, the music mirrors the film’s tone amazingly well. It all sounds weary, and weather-beaten, it’s the sound of a man being stalked by death and contemplating turning to face him with every step. All the music was also recorded live, so the interplay and interactions between the players that you see is completely genuine, which might not seem like such a big deal but when you watch the film it creates a layer of immersion that you’d be hard pressed to find elsewhere, you can almost smell the cigarette smoke and you could be forgiven for trying to reach through the screen in a desperate bid to get a handful of Martin Scorsese’s impossibly fuzzy beard. Or maybe that’s just me. It’s just so fuzzy…
The Commitments
Making a film about music enables certain aspects of a musician’s lifestyle to come across much more clearly. You can listen to as much music and go to as many gigs as you like but it’s difficult to get a sense of what a band might be like once the recording stops or they step off stage. The Commitments is a perfectly pitched reminder that not only do many bands have none of the chemistry off stage as they do on, but often times they absolutely fucking despise each other.
Currently enjoying something of a resurgence as a musical, this 1991 comedy follows an Irish soul band as they move from formation to recognition to implosion. All the archetypes are there, the idealistic manager, the repulsive yet frustratingly talented front man, the older veteran player who walks a fine line between wisdom and bullshit and the crazed, hyper-violent drummer. As a band, they’re phenomenal, channeling Otis Redding, Wilson Picket and other legendary soul names with white hot energy. The trouble is, their offstage life is a furious tornado of infighting, in-fucking and crossed streams. It’s hilarious in its brutality and contains some of the best swearing you’ll find almost anywhere south of Malcolm Tucker.
Frank
Does true creativity, true art only rise from the embers of crushing adversity? Do you have to suffer to create art? No, and if you thought the answer was going to be yes, you really need to watch Frank. Another Irish film (albeit based around American and British characters, and one French guy), it follows the exploits of John (Domhnall Gleeson), an aspiring songwriter who ends up becoming the newest member of The Soronprfbs after their former keyboard player tries to drown himself in the sea. The Soronprfbs are an aggressively bizarre blend of Captain Beefheart, Mr. Bungle, Japan, The Residents, Can and various other things. They are fronted by Frank (surname unknown) a man who spends literally all his time wearing a giant fake head with a cartoon expression. He’s eccentric, impish and militantly intent on creating the right sound.
They all run off to the Irish wilds together to record an album in absolute isolation, contending with money problems, inspiration problems and generally treading on each others’ toes. It’s side-splittingly crazy, but underneath all the madness a truly significant, poignant message emerges about what it really means to be tortured soul, an Ian Curtis, a Richey Edwards or indeed a Frank Sidebottom, who loosely inspired this story. It’s absorbing, powerful stuff and you might well find yourself pretty emotional by the end, thanks in no small part to the man beneath the head (if you already know, good for you, if you don’t, just watch the film, it’ll be worth it).
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