Synopsis
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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Cast
- Chet BakerSelf
- Carol BakerSelf
- Vera BakerSelf
- Paul BakerSelf
- Dean BakerSelf
- Missy BakerSelf
- Dick BockSelf
- William ClaxtonSelf
- FleaSelf
- Hersh HamelSelf
Recommendations
- 100
The Guardian
It's not exactly a documentary, more a lovingly-filmed homage, but some candid interview material allows scraps of Baker's story to emerge. - 100
Time Out London
Alongside archive material and new footage of Chet shot in his signature romantic, B&W style, Weber elicits frank reminiscences from his subject and a host of ex-lovers and friends. - 91
Entertainment Weekly
Just about the only documentary that works like a novel, inviting you to read between the lines of Baker's personality until you touch the secret sadness at the heart of his beauty. - 88
Philadelphia Inquirer
Baker's life, like his music, was as sad as it was beautiful. And Weber's movie - obsessed with Baker's image as much as with his songs - hits all the right notes. - 80
The New York Times
Chet Baker's face, and the extraordinary ways in which Bruce Weber has photographed it, encapsulate the story of Baker's life in a succession of ghostly, indelible images that are at once hauntingly beautiful and desperately sad. - 80
Empire
This is simply the finest jazz documentary ever made. - 80
Total Film
Plays like an elegy for the demise of the cool, thick with the small-hours allure of addiction and infatuation but smart enough to see clearly. - 75
Chicago Sun-Times
What you remember most are the shots of Baker roaming around Santa Monica, Calif., in what feels like endless late-afternoon sun, or riding at night in the back of a convertible with a woman on each arm.
