Let's Get Lost (1988)
Documentary about jazz great Chet Baker that intercuts footage from the 1950s, when he was part of West Coast Cool, and from his last years. We see the young Baker, he of the beautiful face, in California and in Italy, where he appeared in at least one movie and at least one jail cell (for drug possession). And, we see the aged Baker, detached, indifferent, his face a ruin. Includes interviews with his children and ex-wife, women companions, and musicians.
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Simply Perfect
It is a performances centric movie
A waste of 90 minutes of my life
This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.
Photographer Bruce Webber's Let's Get Lost featuring trumpeter Chet Baker on his last legs is like looking at a car wreck. The devastation is riveting. The highly talented Baker burned out and as we eventually find out still using, matter of factly goes over a self destructive career that also saw success as a singer with some film acting thrown in. But for Baker the heroin was every bit as important as the horn. Family, friends and gigs all took a back seat to it and interviews with ex-lovers, band mates and even his mother recount the disappointment he was to all. Lost' form is overly stylized at times and Webber allows some scenes to run over ( a ride with friends in a Caddy convertible is far too long) but with the enigmatic Baker (vacillating between lucid and in a fog) at its center it remains absorbing most of the way. Critical assessment is pedestrian and comparisons to Miles Davis just doesn't wash since Baker's career peaked early and never recovered due to his substance abuse. His unique singing style (My Funny Valentine) is what he is remembered most for today and while this is a film that comes to praise Baker where it can (Webber and he seem to bond during the filming) it ultimately buries him, announcing in post script that a year later he will fall to his death from an Amsterdam hotel window. As Chet would have said, "What a drag, man."
I remember seeing and loving this movie when it played at Film Forum in NYC back in the late 80's. It was recently re-released for a limited engagement so I took my wife to see it (again, at Film Forum). Almost twenty years later, it's just as beautiful and heartbreaking to watch. The brilliance of this movie is that you don't have to be jazz or Chet Baker fan to enjoy it -- my wife and I have a marginal interest in jazz and we loved it. It's a brilliant portrayal of how talent, youth and beauty are destroyed by excess, and you'll feel both awe and pity for the late Mr. Baker. DVD is supposed to come out at the end of the year -- rent it, you won't be sorry.
This film is a must see for any Baker fan and even any Jazz fan. Baker really did redefine the 1950's jazz scene with his combination of mesmerising trumpet playing and angel like vocals. His instantly recognisable style has brought joy to many jazz fans over the years and even now his legend lives on some 16 years after his death in the most mysterious of circumstances.This film tells a very candid story of Chet charting his terrible affliction with drugs as well as honing in on his god given talents. It is very highly recommended and is long overdue for a release on DVD as some fellow reviewers have alluded to. I will certainly be first in the queue to buy this must see title if and when it is re released.
See this film. Amazing to see how destructive genius can be. The film looks great, outstanding sound-track, great editing. I'm not really a jazz fan, but I loved watching and seeing this movie. It's going to be re-released this year.