Review by Stephen Tronicek
There are two types of biopics out there: 1: Ones that try to accurately tell the story of the subject, and 2: The ones that try to accurately represent what it was like to be around the subject. The latter ones usually work better as movies because there’s feeling and emotion at the base of them rather than just a good story. BORN TO BE BLUE for most of its running time is not that type of movie. It’s the first kind. A straightforward, and interesting take on the interesting life of an interesting man. When it does try to become the second kind, it doesn’t really work.
In the first 30 minutes the film tries to be the second kind of biopic, but stumbles in doing so. Most of it just ends up looking like unstructured and meaningless serialism. It seems like the filmmakers realized that they were making a pretty good, but shallow film and at the last minute tried to shoehorn in some artistic flare. Sometimes artistic depth just doesn’t fit the screenplay.
That’s not to say the film is a bad movie though. The rest of it is harmless, but extremely engaging biopic material. It’s the story of the jazz trumpeter Chet Baker as he tries to recover from a heroin addiction, and get back into the jazz business. Those who know anything about Chet Baker will know how the film ultimately ends up, and it’s actually refreshing to see how it does so especially since the rest of the film is played so much like an inspiring biopic.
This type of movie though is usually fueled simply by one great performance, and luckily Ethan Hawke is here to pick up any slack the screenplay leaves. Hawke has always been such a likable charisma on screen that he’s immediately sympathetic, and the soft spoken simpleton that he’s playing Baker as is a new angle for him. The real glory of his performance is in the way he changes Baker’s ticks as he tries to adapt to certain situations. For such a lively actor it’s impressive he could play a role so strung out. There’s also some weight in mentioning that Hawke did all the trumpeting, and vocals heard in the film, and while they come in short bursts the performance is impressive all the same at these moments. BORN TO BE BLUE also focuses on Baker’s relationship with his longtime girlfriend Jane Azuka played by SELMA’s Carmen Ejogo. Ejogo is here as a plot device, mainly serving as the one thing keeping Hawke’s Chet from backsliding into drugs. Ejogo is a great actress, and makes sure that Azuka doesn’t ever feel too much like a plot device (even though she most definitely is), and helps Hawke sell the tougher aspects of the ending.
BORN TO BE BLUE feels like it might have been a little too ambitious for it’s own good. It works when it’s playing the first type of biopic by telling a great story. That said, it fails to be the other kind for about a third of its running time. Still recommended though for Hawke and Ejogo.
3 1/2 of 5 Stars
BORN TO BE BLUE is currently playing in St. Louis exclusively at Landmark’s The Tivoli Theater
