Sweet
and Lowdown (1999)
Woody Allen's latest flick is so subtle, so simple,
so sweet and so pure that it just might gently glide
right over your head. Allen's tender homage to the jazz
age has all the expected trappings; gangsters, flappers,
juke joints and marijuana joints among others, but it's
real heart is in the wonderful little love story it
unfolds. And that story's sheer beauty.
Woody almost blows it. The story can be a bit bogged
down. His protagonist, Emmett Ray, is generally annoying.
He likes to watch trains, shoot rats at the dump and
smokes like a chimney. Ray is also pretty lousy with
the ladies. The way he treats a mute girl he begins
to date is pretty abhorrent at first. At times, it is
hard to like him.
But Woody has a saving grace in the name of Sean Penn.
No one, and I mean no one, but Penn could salvage such
an unlovable lunk into the character we come to treasure
here. Penn, I will dare say it, gives the performance
of his career. It's phenomenal. Penn's seamy hustler/pimp/con
man/jazz guitarist somehow weasels his way into our
hearts and will not let go.
Penn's greatest moment on film EVER is the final sequence
of "Sweet and Lowdown." As Ray, drunk, plays his guitar
sitting on the bumper of his car, his face tells everything
you need to know about what the character is thinking,
feeling and realizing. It's remarkable. It's the saving
grace of the film. It's the moment that you sit through
the movie to attain. It's pure and honest and rich and
raw.
Allen, a jazz aficionado from way back, and a jazz
musician himself, knows what he is doing here. Like
his best movies, he takes a jumble of old stories and
lore (again from the jazz age) and weaves a story about
a singular character from these threads. It's a great
script. And Allen films the proceedings very low-key,
as if a culmination of all he has learned. A "mockumentary"
like "Take the Money and Run," the film is also reminiscent
of "Radio Days" and "The Purple Rose of Cairo" in that
it enacts Allen's forte of magically transforming the
30's into a rich and vibrant time of American history.
Those critics and film-goers who are saying this is
Allen's best film in a decade are not far off the mark.
Like listening a great old jazz song, you can't sit
perked and dissecting each note, that spoils the fun.
It's better to just sit back, relax, and let "Sweet
and Lowdown" wash over you. You will leave with a sense
of sweet inner- peace, and a simple tear falling from
your eye. Allen's latest offering is the subtle thaumaturgy
of cinema itself. A gift from a legend himself.
Note:
Also with Samantha Morton and Uma Thurman, And with
small roles by Anthony LaPaglia, Gretchen Mol, John
Waters, Brad Garrett, and James Urbaniak. Several notables
of jazz and jazz history do the "documentary" interview
segments, including Allen himself.
Django Reinhardt is played as a character briefly
and a few of his songs are included in the soundtrack.
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