ELLE FANNING AND JOHN HAWKES IN LOW DOWN

Draggy tale of a jazz musician addict's years of decline

As a filmmaker Jeff Preiss has a working knowledge of jazz addict deadbeats. After collaborating on Bruce Weber's oddball teen boxing film Broken Noses, he continued with Weber on Let's Get Lost, the photographer's memorable and personal documentary about iconic trumpeter-singer Chet Baker. Baker of course was one of the most talented and most deadbeat of jazz artists: from early on his heroin habit continually derailed his brilliant career. Baker's Greek god face became a picture of Dorian Gray, crumbling into fleshy rubble. Now Preiss has directed a little feature that deals with a less known figure of this stamp. Told intermittently through the viewpoint of daughter Amy-Jo (Elle Fanning), on whose coming-of-age memoir it is based, Low Down recounts the decline of jazz pianist Joe Albany, a one-time Charlie Parker sideman and lifelong heroin user. More than that it's the story of Amy-Jo's disenchantment.

Some fine thespian talent is on hand. Ace character actor John Hawkes merges well into Albany, whom he closely resembles in appearance. Glenn Close rides a long way from the Marquise de Merteuil as Amy-Jo's gnarly grandmother, who must stand in as parent in the absence of Amy-Jo's alcoholic mother (Lena Headley, also good) and ex-con heroin addict father. The cast is rounded out by Taryn Manning, Flea, Caleb Landry Jones and Peter Dinklage. A credible dingy Hollywood Seventies atmosphere is achieved, helped by Christopher Blauvelt's super 16mm. images, though they're often too murky, the mood too downbeat, the action listless.

For all its atmosphere and skillful acting, this is a movie that would drag at ninety minutes. And its jerky stop-and-start narrative rambles on for a quarter of an hour longer than that. "This has become a crashing bore," declares Amy-Jo's mom (Headley), rising to leave a club date, and she speaks for the viewer at many points. What does satisfy is the music arranged by Ohad Talmor blending excerpts from Coleman Hawkins, Thelonious Monk and Max Roach with new recordings from trumpeter Russ Johnson and pianist Jacob Sacks. But this film winds up skimping on Albany's career. Despite an end-note, "Joe Albany continued touring and recording to critical acclaim until his death in 1988," you'd hardly know from what you see of him here that he made more than ten featured albums, more than half recorded during and after the period covered in Low Down.

Low Down, 114 mins., debuted at Sundance and has shown at various US festivals. It opened theatrically 20 October in NYC, 23 and 24 October elsewhere. Bay Area opening 14 November. An Oscilloscope release with some very mixed, and some terrible, reviews: Metacritic rating 57%.

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©Chris Knipp. Blog: http://chrisknipp.blogspot.com/.