Blue Like Jazz
I was really looking forward to finally seeing this movie. The very idea of that brilliant book being translated to the silver screen was a bit of good news way back when. Then, when the Kickstarter campaign showed promise that this thing might actually happen, the anticipation somehow ratcheted up another notch. I felt like a kid waiting to enter the theater. Thanks to one of my friends I got a very nice reserved ticket that allowed early entrance and I was standing outside the Paramount when Steve Taylor, Don Miller and various members of their entourage arrived, including the young Austin native actor that played Don in the movie – Marshall Allman. It was neat to see their obvious excitement as the moment had arrived. Now, I’m not an expert on this, but even though the movie had screened in various cities (like Nashville) in the days and weeks preceding this event, Tuesday night’s screening was the actual World Premiere. I assume this means that those other screenings were “rough cuts” or not-quite-final versions of the film. While waiting out front I discovered that another one of my Austin friends, Brian Behm, who helps run the video team at Cornerstone Festival each year, did some of the animation for this film. He was anxious to see how it turned out, as everyone in the crowd was. We were all itching to get inside and fire this puppy up.
Longtime Austinite Louis Black introduced Steve Taylor before the film and Steve was all grins as he explained that Kickstarter helped make this possible. He asked for a showing of hands for those in the crowd that supported the film. There were definitely a few in the crowd. He thanked everyone, promised a Q&A after the film and he walked off stage and the theater went dark. After one of the funny SXSW trailers (you need to watch them later … here), Blue Like Jazz the movie began.
First off, I have to say I loved the film. I laughed, I cried, I listened to the reaction of those around me and I sat there and let it come to me. I didn’t exactly know what to expect. Of course, I love the book and had read it a long time ago. The first thing that surprised me was how dark it was. It started off light, which wasn’t too much of a surprise, but it was a narrative (i.e. story) instead of a collection of stream-of-consciousness stories, and we got to “meet” Don. Right off the bat there were a few surprises and differences from the book. Right away we see a goofy, young, impressionable Don fully engaged in his typical Southern Baptist subculture. I figured the intricacies of Don’s brilliant mind would be on display right from the get-go, but instead he’s 90% awkward and, even though his father affirms that he’s bright and intelligent, you don’t quite see it showing itself yet.
A couple of details jump right out at ya while you’re watching the film and they’re hilarious. Don gets an enthusiastic send-off from his small local church as he is about to head off for the great big world of college. He’s given an “armor of God” plastic uniform – the kind an 8-year-old kid might wear – replicating the finest in first century Roman military garb. So amazingly goofy. There’s some puppet ministry going on and then Don is hanging with his friend at a factory that seals up communion juice cups for churches everywhere. Don’s buddy swabs some of his tobacco chew in one of the cups and, despite Don’s protests, it heads out over the assembly line to some unsuspecting nun somewhere in North America. Later in the movie his buddy comes to see him on Christmas Eve up in Portland and tells the story of how “the Skoal-infested blood of Jesus” ended up in Canada and his friend eventually feels bad about the whole thing and he’s going to go up to this nun’s church “and help her work with retards.” (the awkwardness of the poorly-chosen word for mentally handicapped is not lost in the scene, either).
SPOILER ALERT #1 (mild thematic information)
A few liberties are taken in making the story move along and they all pretty much support the story and take us close to the funny, quirky and courageously honest thoughts of one of our day’s more popular writers. The thing that really shocked my system, though, is how dark it got. Basically Don loses his faith up in Portland at Reed College. I wasn’t expecting that. He doesn’t come right out and renounce anything per se, but he takes some drastic actions in the form of a prank or two to let those around him know that he is rejecting his Christian sub-culture and frame of reference.
A few memorable quotes from the book turn up. Some about Jazz, one about “needing to see someone else love something to love it yourself” and we definitely get the girl-chasing wild romantic in Don coming out through his character. Anyone that’s been to college will see some funny things in the background – from the partying to the trying-to-fit-in stuff to all the awkward getting-to-know those in your new surroundings.
Don’s relationship with Penny reveals a source of hope from an unexpected source in the story (unless you’re really studied up on your book details) and it’s really gripping. Hearing Penny express herself was touching on an unreal deep level (at least for me). I was wowed by her precious faith. I was impressed how Steve Taylor directed things like the friction between faith and the non-believing world that can be harsh in some places (like Reed College). It’s nice to see an honest approach to this that doesn’t demonize the non-believer, but instead shows a context that’s a realistic portrayal in some places (like university settings in general). It is also bold to bring up faith in Jesus without flinching. I think making fun of yourself at the start (showing Don’s goofy church-guy identity) gives the character authority to later invoke the Name of this faith’s central figure in a loving way. It is said of Penny (in narration form) that “She loves Jesus.” There is almost no more powerful moment in the film.
There’s a few other heavy moments, like the confessional booth scene where the film climaxes, and Don’s narration gives us an outline (in the voice of his character, of course – not the real Don. Don does make a cameo in a bookstore scene that’s funny and ironic). The heaviness is well broken up, though, with moments of extreme brevity, like the after-school/extra-curricular activities he gets involved in. Very alternative are they. One is called “Civil Disobedience” and it involves a bunch of students heading into a giant chain bookstore (where the real Don Miller plays a famous author doing a reading that gets interrupted by this stunt spectacle). They’re dressed as robots and crazy characters who loudly proclaim the anti-community themes of disillusionment they feel by corporate businesses controlling the flow of books and information. The young Don causes a bit of trouble, dressed as he is in an astronaut’s uniform.
SPOILER ALERT #2 (technically a spoiler, but we’re talking closing credits here, so don’t worry about this as any real spoiler information):
When the movie ends the characters are listed in typical fashion in the center/left of the screen, scrolling up and telling us who play who and who did what with the film. Then a column on the right appears, which I think said “Associate Producer” and the names start scrolling up … faster and FASTER than the column of credits slowly scrolling up on the left. These are not racing up (you can still read them), but there were SO many Kickstarter supporters who donated $100, which got them their name in the credits. It took forever just to get out of the “A” in alphabetical order. It was fun to see so many friend’s names up there. You know that all these people will stay to watch … and bring their friends. Quite a brilliant, fun and surely never-done-before moment.
SPOILER ALERT #3 (If you didn’t guess that Don’s wrestling with faith would probably resolve by movie’s end, skip this):
After the movie there was a Q&A and one of the first questions was a girl that asked, “I noticed the character was very religious at the beginning and then very religious at the end. What’s the difference?” Wow. If this question didn’t show some perspective on how a non-believer looks at and perceives people of faith, I don’t know what does. Steve deferred to Don to answer this one, to which he basically stated that at the beginning the character was religious in a way that reflected his cultural, inherited and very typical of what most of us are familiar with down here in Texas kind of faith and then later the character has more of an authentic faith.”
It’s cool to see a movie treat faith fairly, even beat it up a little bit and also hold it in a light of appreciation. By showing some of the goofy cultural baggage that surrounds a lot of faith here in the US, it kind of magnifies the tension that someone may experience while wrestling with faith. Then the good qualities that are show carry a sense of purity with it that’s hard not to respect.
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