Bolden

This is not a Buddy Bolden biography because too little is known about him. This film tells of the legend of Bolden and is filmed like one big nightmare/beautiful dream, sequence. Even though I'm not a big jazz fan, the music was fabulous and I couldn't get enough. Excellent acting on the part of Gary Carr in particular, and the entire cast in general. It also makes you wonder about all the important events, good or bad, that went unrecorded in history. This movie is well worth your time as long as you know what to expect.

I want to start by stating that the music by Wynton Marsalis is really well researched and played. The costumes were also very well crafted, and true to the period. The acting was suitable, even though the actors said next to nothing.

In one of the opening scenes, the audience sees Buddy get thrown out of a hot air balloon, and parachute to the ground while playing his cornet to a cheering audience. I thought, wow this is going to be a creative and fun take on his life. Yeah, I was wrong. That was the best thing in the whole movie.

As far as the story, it goes in a couple of different directions. Time jumps around from Buddy's life as a child, as a budding talent, and his final years in a turn of the century institution. The story is shown in Buddy Bolden's disordered flashbacks of his life.

Buddy Bolden's character is an enigma, and the supporting characters are underdeveloped. It's like shaking your keys at a baby to keep them from crying. The writer was hoping the audience is so distracted by all the nudity and violence, they won't care that there isn't a story

There were lots of interesting settings, but nothing happens. Any detail about Bolden's relationships with his many partners are just lust filled scenes of lust. I thought for a second that this thing should be on skin-a-max, probably will be.

The movie was a long time in the making, a total of eleven years. Multiple reshoots, and at one point got an entirely new cast.

All and all, they spent a lot of money on a dud.

I knew nothing about Buddy Bolden before seeing this film and after seeing it I know even less. This film is put together like a two hour trailer, the scenes jump around in time and never seem to build to a satisfying emotional conclusion. There are individual shots that promise something interesting, but never seem to finish. Even the jazz numbers which are well arranged by Wynton Marsalis, do not get to finish. And most music varies in fidelity and we move thru time and space.

The period details are perfect as is the music, sounding like it's played on period instruments. The performances are believable especially Gary Carr as Buddy Bolden who presents a broad range of emotions. He can be exhibiting a youthful energy exploring the nascent possibilities of jazz, or suffering trough rough parts of his life. The most familiar face in the cast is Ian McShane, but his charter is presented in such a choppy way, I have no idea who his character was or how he figured in Bolden's life.

I saw this at a special screening with the writer director Dan Pritzker in attendance, and he acknowledged that no recording of Bolden exists and so little is known about Bolden that he has no idea if he invented jazz or not, he just thought it was a good tag line.

I look forward to seeing this movie and have long thought Buddy Bolden would be an ideal subject. But where is Jelly Roll Morton -- and how could anyone miss an opportunity to depict this amazing character!

Taken from the perspective of Bolden's asylum residency and the reflections of his life, success, frustration and failure, I found the movie at times restless, but overall very interesting. The period sets, costuming, and social tension make the movie work, as the shards of his life and his ambition dovetail into his ultimate failure and loss. In reality, little is known of his music or the facts of his life, but his influence was profound and shaped jazz (jass) music. To do Bolden justice I would be happy to see a proper documentary, but if this movie keeps his accomplishments in our culture's mind then it was a good endeavor. Now go read his Wikipedia page, and listen to some early King Oliver or Louis Armstrong records!