Flawed but brilliant

Rating: 10/10 (21 October 2015)

This film has very little to do with drumming. It has even less to do with Jazz. Musicians who complain about the factual - and musical - inaccuracies of this film are kind of missing the point.
It's a drama. The script is excellent; the characters are as deep as you could possibly wish for; the acting is absolutely top notch across the board; the pacing as the story develops is wonderful; the ending will leave you hot and cold at the same time
Yes, the Charlie Parker story is apocryphal - but from a storytelling point of view it's perfect. Yes, Miles Teller's miming is sometimes rather off, but by Jove you can see he's put some bloody work in and taken it seriously. This isn't like Julia Stiles in Save The Last Dance. Incidentally, J. K. Simmons' piano miming is pretty on the money.
If you don't know anything about music, you'll love it. If you're a musician, you'll love it if you've got any bloody common sense and remember that it's a film.
Verdict: It's the Jazz version of Amadeus. So what if it's inaccurate - IT IS A BRILLIANT FILM.
yetanotherfilmreviewblog.tumblr.com