The recent movie "Sylvie's Love" is a rare example of having good jazz without being a jazz musician biopic.
The male lead character Robert is a talented saxophone player, and the playing was pretty convincing in the movie --- I was shocked to discover that the actor, Nnamdi Asomugha, is not only not a musician but rather an ex-footballer. The depiction of jazz musician's life is, even if not necessarily very realistic, at least reasonable. There are scenes of band rehearsals and conflicts with the manager, of traveling and touring. We are even treated to the real decline of the popularity of jazz in the 1960s.
The movie itself is not my cup of tea. I am perhaps constitutionally unsuited for swoony melodrama. Todd Haynes' similar tribute to Douglas Sirk, Far from Heaven, did nothing for me, either. I only care about the jazz-related elements.
The most thrilling scene is where the female lead and title character, Sylvie (Tessa Thompson), talks to Robert about jazz giants like Monk and recommends new albums to him, even though she does not play jazz herself --- her own passion is television. It is the exchanges of two jazz-loving minds.
The movie's writer and director, Eugene Ashe, is himself a musician. So it is not surprising that many of the details are authentic. Nevertheless, I wish there were more details in Robert's professional life in the movie. The final part of the movie (spoilers!) is a big letdown, unfortunately. There is no reason for Robert to make the stupid choice of leaving both Sylvie and music, two of his life's passion, just because he is no longer a star. OK, there are reasons for this: 1) the convention of melodrama that requires a stupid excuse to separate the lead characters in order to produce a tear-jerking finale, 2) the male chauvinistic notion that he has to make more money and be more successful than she is, and 3) the need for an ending in which the woman makes a sacrifice for him.
