with Jazz Blues , Tyler Perry proved himself to be the most reliable director of useful melodrama . The film has premiered at the Toronto Film Festival and will be available on
Netflix in September , is an exercise in metaphor and sarcasm, a game of “finding clichés”. Nearly all the usual suspects of black and biblical stereotypes are present here: the tragic mulatto, mom, the amazing black man, Cain and his brother Abel. Under Perry’s unwavering direction and utilitarian script, they fit together like familiar puzzles. The result is Hollywood catnip.
Comparisons with existing projects are unavoidable because A Jazzman’s Blues is an amalgamation of existing projects. There are Green Book in its depiction of the South, Notebook in Romance, Passing, Any movie about black musicians trying to make it the North, and August Wilson. The last one is direct inspiration. Perry has been writing scripts for Jazz Blues for over 20 years after he dived into the production of Wilson’s Seven Acts . Atlanta. A later casual meeting with the playwright encouraged Perry to write the play.
Jazz Blues
Bottom Line A useful melodrama.
Place: Toronto International Film Festival (Party) release date: Friday, September
(Netflix) actor: Joshua Boone, Amira Vann, Solea Pfeiffer, Austin Scott, Mirana Jermaine Jackson 1947
Director and Screenwriter:
Tyler Perry 23
2 hours 7 minutes
The Jazz Player’s Blues is a sprawling narrative that follows a young couple from their first teenage meeting to their dramatic attempt to live through adulthood in each other’s lives. Bayou (Joshua Boone) and Leanne (Solea Pfeiffer) both grew up in a small community outside Hopewell, Georgia, and bonded over the fact that they felt like outcasts. Courteous and timid, Bayou is a well of disappointment to his father, Buster (E. Roger Mitchell). Unlike his more cocky, confident brother Willie Earl (Austin Scott), Bayou can’t hunt or stand up for himself. He also doesn’t know how to play the trumpet, a skill their father, an aspiring musician, valued very much.
Buster prefers to spend time with his mother Heidi May (Amirah Vann), a strong-willed woman who runs a laundry service for the community. They share similar sensitivities, with Heidi May often protecting her son from Buster’s cruelty and humiliation. When Bayou first met Liane, he was overwhelmed by her beauty. She is a fair-skinned black woman with nearly jet-black hair in a ponytail and pink cheeks.
The two struck up a lighthearted friendship: every night, Leanne threw a paper plane into Bayou’s window and the two met under an oak tree with Spanish moss . They talk about their lives, share secrets, and Leanne teaches Bayou how to read. Perry uses a gorgeous visual language throughout A Jazzman’s Blues , especially in these scenes. Light becomes another character, bathing the young couple and their meeting place in a warm golden glow.
Their relationship develops through the summer and into the rainy season, when an obsessed estuary proposes to Ryan. The young woman – whose grandfather, it turns out, was raping her – reluctantly accepted his offer, knowing her family would not allow it. She is right. Leanne’s mother returned from Boston with her daughter North, where both would be considered white. Bayou is heartbroken, but his love for Liane is enduring. His daily letters to her were intercepted by Liane’s mother, who didn’t want her daughter to be associated with “The Washerwoman’s Boy.”
Jazz Blues Jump forward Year to , we two lovelorn The life of the soul has undergone tremendous changes. Bayou still lives at home and helps his mother with the business, but Buster and Willie Earl are gone; both have abandoned their families to try to become musicians in Chicago. Liane returns to Hopewell as a married woman. The film doesn’t address her Boston years (or about her in general), but we do know that her husband was part of a strong racist family in Georgia.
Now in the same place again, the couple meet again – this time behind Leanne’s car, protected by darkness and fog. They admit they are still in love, but given their more complicated lives, being together would be too risky. A Jazzman’s Blues dutifully takes the beat of Leanne and Bayou’s love story, crafted from a fantastic performance by Boone and Pfeiffer. Boone offers a particularly dynamic turn, his keen eyes and buttery voice. His portrayal deepens a relatively sketchy figure, giving viewers the emotional anchor they need to support Bayou.
Because he needs it. The backdrop for Bayou’s tragic romance is his feuding relationship with his older brother. The pair’s disagreement began in their childhood, when Buster publicly favored Willie Earl and mocked Bayou. Willie Earl, whose complexities and traumas are reduced to heroin addiction, has struggled to embrace Bayou, who ironically considers Bayou his favorite. Over the years, his annoyances turned into hatreds, especially after Bayou stumbled into the artistic life Willie Earle had dreamed of for himself.
The brothers briefly ended up in Chicago, where they performed a joint music show every night to an ecstatic white audience. These scenes are some of the strongest in A Jazzman’s Blues , showcasing Aaron Zigmans’ brisk score (arranged by Terence Blanchard) and Debbie Allen energetic dance.
Jazz Blues is an indulgent, twisty narrative feast. The hard work of the cast keeps us in step, helps audiences digest the plot, and saves Perry’s script from its wide-ranging collateral damage. The film isn’t apocalypse, and it doesn’t stray too far from Perry’s other works, but it shows that the director may be ready to step out of his comfort zone.
23 Full credits 23
Venue: Toronto International Film Festival (Party)
Reseller: Netflix23Production company: Tyler Perry Studio Cast: Joshua Boone, Amira Vann, Soria Pfeiffer, Austin Scott, Mirana Jermaine Jackson, Brad Benedict, Cario Marcel, Lana Young, Ryan Eggold
Director-Screenwriter: Tyler Perry 23Producer: Tyler Perry 23 Photography: Brett Pawlak
Production Designer: Sharon Busse
Costume Designer: Karyn Wagner
Edited by: Maysie Hoy Composer: Aaron Ziegman
Casting Directors: Kim Coleman, Rhayvnn Drummer
2 hours 7 minutes 10 THR Newsletter
Directly on your receipt every day box note Book THR News
Tyler Perry 23
2 hours 7 minutes
The Jazz Player’s Blues is a sprawling narrative that follows a young couple from their first teenage meeting to their dramatic attempt to live through adulthood in each other’s lives. Bayou (Joshua Boone) and Leanne (Solea Pfeiffer) both grew up in a small community outside Hopewell, Georgia, and bonded over the fact that they felt like outcasts. Courteous and timid, Bayou is a well of disappointment to his father, Buster (E. Roger Mitchell). Unlike his more cocky, confident brother Willie Earl (Austin Scott), Bayou can’t hunt or stand up for himself. He also doesn’t know how to play the trumpet, a skill their father, an aspiring musician, valued very much.
Buster prefers to spend time with his mother Heidi May (Amirah Vann), a strong-willed woman who runs a laundry service for the community. They share similar sensitivities, with Heidi May often protecting her son from Buster’s cruelty and humiliation. When Bayou first met Liane, he was overwhelmed by her beauty. She is a fair-skinned black woman with nearly jet-black hair in a ponytail and pink cheeks.
The two struck up a lighthearted friendship: every night, Leanne threw a paper plane into Bayou’s window and the two met under an oak tree with Spanish moss . They talk about their lives, share secrets, and Leanne teaches Bayou how to read. Perry uses a gorgeous visual language throughout A Jazzman’s Blues , especially in these scenes. Light becomes another character, bathing the young couple and their meeting place in a warm golden glow.
Their relationship develops through the summer and into the rainy season, when an obsessed estuary proposes to Ryan. The young woman – whose grandfather, it turns out, was raping her – reluctantly accepted his offer, knowing her family would not allow it. She is right. Leanne’s mother returned from Boston with her daughter North, where both would be considered white. Bayou is heartbroken, but his love for Liane is enduring. His daily letters to her were intercepted by Liane’s mother, who didn’t want her daughter to be associated with “The Washerwoman’s Boy.”
Jazz Blues Jump forward Year to , we two lovelorn The life of the soul has undergone tremendous changes. Bayou still lives at home and helps his mother with the business, but Buster and Willie Earl are gone; both have abandoned their families to try to become musicians in Chicago. Liane returns to Hopewell as a married woman. The film doesn’t address her Boston years (or about her in general), but we do know that her husband was part of a strong racist family in Georgia.
Now in the same place again, the couple meet again – this time behind Leanne’s car, protected by darkness and fog. They admit they are still in love, but given their more complicated lives, being together would be too risky. A Jazzman’s Blues dutifully takes the beat of Leanne and Bayou’s love story, crafted from a fantastic performance by Boone and Pfeiffer. Boone offers a particularly dynamic turn, his keen eyes and buttery voice. His portrayal deepens a relatively sketchy figure, giving viewers the emotional anchor they need to support Bayou.
Because he needs it. The backdrop for Bayou’s tragic romance is his feuding relationship with his older brother. The pair’s disagreement began in their childhood, when Buster publicly favored Willie Earl and mocked Bayou. Willie Earl, whose complexities and traumas are reduced to heroin addiction, has struggled to embrace Bayou, who ironically considers Bayou his favorite. Over the years, his annoyances turned into hatreds, especially after Bayou stumbled into the artistic life Willie Earle had dreamed of for himself.
The brothers briefly ended up in Chicago, where they performed a joint music show every night to an ecstatic white audience. These scenes are some of the strongest in A Jazzman’s Blues , showcasing Aaron Zigmans’ brisk score (arranged by Terence Blanchard) and Debbie Allen energetic dance.
Jazz Blues is an indulgent, twisty narrative feast. The hard work of the cast keeps us in step, helps audiences digest the plot, and saves Perry’s script from its wide-ranging collateral damage. The film isn’t apocalypse, and it doesn’t stray too far from Perry’s other works, but it shows that the director may be ready to step out of his comfort zone.
23 Full credits 23
Venue: Toronto International Film Festival (Party)
Reseller: Netflix23Production company: Tyler Perry Studio Cast: Joshua Boone, Amira Vann, Soria Pfeiffer, Austin Scott, Mirana Jermaine Jackson, Brad Benedict, Cario Marcel, Lana Young, Ryan Eggold
Director-Screenwriter: Tyler Perry 23Producer: Tyler Perry 23 Photography: Brett Pawlak
Production Designer: Sharon Busse
Costume Designer: Karyn Wagner
Edited by: Maysie Hoy Composer: Aaron Ziegman
Casting Directors: Kim Coleman, Rhayvnn Drummer
2 hours 7 minutes 10 THR Newsletter
Edited by: Maysie Hoy Composer: Aaron Ziegman
2 hours 7 minutes 10 THR Newsletter
Directly on your receipt every day box note Book THR News
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