Review

Lee’s jazz movie hits mark

MO’ BETTER BLUES. Pro-
duced, written and directed
by Spike Lee. Starring Denzel
Washington and Spike Lee.
At Cineplex Odeon theatres.

Films about jazz have been
done before. Recently there has
been Bertrand Traverier’s
Round Midnight (based on Dex-
ter Gordon’s life), Clint East-
-wood’s Bird (on Charlie Parker)
and films based on the lives of
Billie Holiday and other artists.
Now Spike Lee, the Black
American filmmaker, has
entered the field with Mo’ Better
Blues.

Lee is not only — and this is
almost universally acknow-
ledged — one of the top film-
makers in America today, he is
also, by virtue of the colour of his
skin and his unwillingness to
compromise, one of the most
controversial.

Since his first film, She’s
Gotta Have It in 1986, to this
year’s Mo’ Better Blues, Lee has
refused to play it safe in order to
win acceptance with Hollywood. In par-
ticular, Do The Right Thing (1989), Lee’s -
stunning masterpiece about racial violence _
during a hot summer in New York, spurred
a thousand editorials and debates about
whether or not it advocated violence as an
answer to the oppression of African-Amer-
icans.

The fact that Lee put Malcolm X on the

- same level as Martin Luther King caused
many white liberal film critics, and the
Hollywood establishment, to uncomfortab-
ly clear their throats. As a result Do The
Right Thing was omitted from last year’s
Academy Award nominations while Driving
Miss Daisy had honours heaped upon it.
Portraying blacks as dignified but quiet is
O.K. — showing them organizing and
taking to the streets is definitely not.

Lee takes a different approach than either
Travernier or Eastwood on this film as well.
Both Round Midnight and Bird looked at
Black jazz artists as tragic figures trapped in
a smoky world of dark nightclubs and
heroin, on a one-way road to oblivion. Mo’
Better Blues is more a bright celebration of
the musical form bom out of the vibrant
African-American culture.

The central character, Bleek Gilliam
(Denzel Washington) is neither drug addict

Cynda Williams, Denzel Washington, Spike Lee and Joie Lee in Mo’
Better Blues.

nor hopeless alcoholic. In fact there is no
evidence of substance abuse of any kind.
Instead Gilliam is a brilliant creator, a genius
who creates magic with his trumpet. Like
any genius he has his eccentricities and these
— not the needle, pill or bottle — lead to his
near downfall.

Bleek’s creativity requires inner search,
a solitude of the mind that excludes, when-
ever he creates, the feelings and talents of
those around him. His two lovers, aspiring
singer Clarke Bentancourt (Cynda Wil-
liams) and teacher Indigo Downes (Joie
Lee) are pillars of support for Bleek, but
Bleek does not reciprocate. Like a child with
his’ favourite toys, Bleek needs Indigo and
Clarke to be around but only when it is
convenient for him. In return he provides
them with little more than good sex.

Bleek’s only love is his music. It is his -

life. Everything else is secondary. While he
is sensitive to the sexual desires of his lovers
he is blind to their emotional needs until they
are gone. He is insensitive to the artistic
aspirations of his own band members — he
recognizes their talents but only as long as
they fit the context of his own creations.

It is a recipe for disaster and the in-
evitable happens. Bleek is brought to reality
when, after continually ignoring the feelings
of Indigo and Clarke, he ends up losing both.

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He stifles the artistic
freedom of his most
talented band member
and loses his band. In the
end, through a tragic
event, he loses the ability
to play.

On this jarring note,
Bleek’s life is brought to a
crossroads. With his
music gone he must find
the ability to respond to
other human beings — to
love, or else perish.

Spike Lee plays Giant,
a not-at-all scrupulous
character. Giant is
Gilliam’s manager but he
is more of an albatross
around Bleek’s neck than
an aid to his career. With a
hopeless gambling addic-
tion, Giant spends more
time avoiding loan sharks
than he does managing
the band’s affairs. A good
proportion of the money
the group pulls in from its
regular full houses at the
nightclub becomes the down payment inone
of Giant’s losing bets.

In Mo’ Better Blues, Lee shows his mat-
uring talent as a filmmaker. The screen is
flooded with vivid colours, the musical
score (featuring John Coltrane, Ornette
Coleman, Miles Davis and more) evokes the
beauty of jazz. The lovemaking scenes are

sensual, the cinematography creatively
stamped with Lee’s moving camera style.

Lee has been criticized for his portrayal
of women. The charge of sexism is hard to
deny. His female characters have often been
one-dimensional and subservient. This film
will likely. not end that criticism though it
undeniably takes a step in the right direction.

It would be idealistic to deny or ignore
the misogyny that exists among men in the
music world and Lee does not do that. The
backstage banter of the men is full of crude
‘sexual jokes and innuendos and the women
often viewed as little more than groupies.

But Lee’s approach is not that of an
Andrew Dice Clay. He does not glorify in
the sexism, he just shows it. The criticism
that some might make is that his male char-
acters do not denounce it — leading to the
valid concem that such might constitute an
idealistic “socialist realist” approach.

Neither Indigo nor Clarke are one-
dimensional. If they both put up with a lot
from Bleek, they also have the integrity and
strength to leave him. Hopefully Lee’s next
work will see a further progression in his
portrayal of female characters.

Mo ’Better Blues is a labour of love, a
tribute to the art form that is jazz. It is also a
damn good film.

— Paul Ogresko

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