|
Starring Sean Penn, Samantha Morton, Uma Thurman, Anthony LaPaglia, . Written and Directed by Woody Allen.
Emmitt Ray (Penn) is the number two jazz guitarist in the world. He wishes he was number one, but he's heard Django Reinhardt, a gypsy from Paris, and he faints in his presence, and cries when he hears his recordings. He's playing some Chicago bars to earn his keep, and making good money. The problem is he spends it faster than he earns it. He loves buying snazzy clothes, picking up his friends tabs, driving beautiful automobiles and buying things for his many (short-term) lady friends. He often comes late or drunk to performances, or not at all. On a day off, he and one of his band members cruise the Chicago boardwalk and spot a voluptuous statuesque woman, and her short friend. After flipping a coin, Emmitt loses and ends up with the short one Hattie (Morton). Unknown to him, she's a mute, and a bit slow. Despite his protestations, he likes her, not least because getting her to like him is like "shooting fish in a barrel". She moves in with him. About a year later, she tells him she loves him. Well Emmitt has always said he doesn't want to be tied down. He leaves her $500 and splits. He ends up in a swanky mob-owned club, and meets a writer Blanche (Thurman) who relishes the boorish, egotistical artist that Emmitt embodies. One night, Emmitt calls out Hattie's name in bed and overcompensates by impulsively asking Blanche to marry him. She accepts, and they get married that day. But Emmitt's drinking and spendthrift habits soon turn the marriage rocky. One day, Blanche meets a mobster's hired gun (LaPaglia) and they begin an affair. Soon Emmitt is on his own again. And guess where he returns. A departure for Woody Allen from many of his tortured relationship movies of the past decade, Sweet and Lowdown is a documentary-style piece about a fictional 1930's jazz guitarist. Allen, well known for his love of jazz, has fashioned a story illustrating a case where amazing and expressive talent is housed within a shallow, crude and often unappreciative human being. The movie nicely captures the smoky ambience of the jazz clubs, and the music is quite good. It's actually best, not in the clubs, but when Emmitt jams with a bunch of black and white local players in a piano-playing woman's home. And it's not really that big a departure from his relationship movies. The film revolves around Emmitt's relationship with Hattie, and how her presence or the lack thereof affects the course of his life and his art. Emmitt's unwillingness to share his feelings and to let himself go and fall in love with a woman is described by several characters as the reason he cannot fully reach his potential playing the guitar. Penn again shows he's one of the finest actors in cinema. His Emmitt is pitch-perfect, displaying both an authentic redneck persona and a sense of humour. But equally stunning is Morton. Reminiscent of Charlie Chaplin, she beautifully projects sweetness and innocence. The lack of speech is not a problem - her facial expressions say everything, from childlike happiness to painful hurt. When Penn and Morton are together, the film is funny, charming and engrossing. There is more chemistry between these two without any kissing or onscreen sex than there is in most hot and heavy onscreen relationships. The problem is the rest of the film pales in comparison. It's not that Thurman or Lapaglia aren't good. The storyline is just not as sharply written or compelling when Morton is not onscreen. Overall, Sweet and Lowdown is a well-made, nostalgic look at the jazz scene of the 30's.  
|