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Sweet and Lowdown
$17.04
Hot factor: 6
Emmet Ray: Sean Penn
Hattie: Samantha Morton
Blanche: Uma Thurman
Al Torrio: Anthony LaPaglia
Ellie: Gretchen Mol
Mr. Hayes: John Waters
Sony Pictures Classics presents a film written and directed by Woody Allen. Running time: 95 minutes. Rated PG-13 (for sexual content and some substance abuse).
This was another movie that I really enjoyed. Sweet and Lowdown is a fake documentary about a "forgotten" jazz guitar player, Emmet Ray (Sean Penn) who performed in the 1930s. Ray's life is told through anecdotes narrated by Woody Allen and jazz experts, commenting on a few episodes in his life. He is, in fact, the 2nd best guitar player in the world, second only to Django Reinhardt, the Gypsy jazz guitarist. Every time Emmet Ray sees the legendary guitarist, he starts to cry. Emmet never seems to play as well as he does. Some tell Emmet that the only thing keeping him back from playing as well is that he doesn't let his emotions out in real life. This is true. Emmet is likeable, though he is inconsiderate and rude.
Emmet is kind of a wanderer, and he doesn't even know what he wants. He meets the perfect girl, Mattie (Samantha Morton) an adorable mute girl (it takes him a few minutes to figure out that she doesn't talk.) She can hear, and so she can love and understand his music, but I don't see why she was so devoted to him. He loves her, too, but he denies it when he has her and finally leaves her. It isn't until he leaves her that he realizes he loves her. Enter my favorite character, Blanch, a society girl, who marries him simply to study him and get ideas for a book. On one of the "dates" he takes her on, they go out to watch trains, sitting on the railroad tracks. She questions his motives, his masculinity that is expressed by watching the trains, but he is much less complicated than she seems him. Maybe that's why his character so alludes her. Anyway, the relationship doesn't work and that's that. It's amazing to watch Emmet because he is so lonely and doesn't even realize it and doesn't know what to do when he finally does fall in love.
One of the features of musical movies that bothers me is that you can always tell that the actor is faking it. However, this is not the case in Sweet and Lowdown. Howard Alden, who plays guitar on the soundtrack, taught Sean Penn to play, and so you can never tell that Penn is not really playing the guitar.
Altogether, this was a moving and really interesting movie. Don't go to it if you're in the mood for a shallow, action packed movie. I really loved it and the amazing swing guitar that plays throughout the movie, but I was the only one to like it out of a group of five people that saw it with me. In the words of one of my friends, "I kept on waiting until it got good, but then I realized it wasn't going to get good. Then I started to like it." Still, I recommend everyone see it.
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