Bird 1988
I remember hearing good things about Bird when it came out, but never saw it. I have tried to get an appreciation for jazz over the years, especially the more modern jazz that Charlie “Bird” Parker helped to start, but I just don’t care for it. Still, Charlie Parker is an undisputed genius, so I was happy to eventually see the movie in 2022 after borrowing an SD version of the movie with a Screen Pass. Clint Eastwood had directed a lot of movies by the time he did this one, but he was in almost all of them. This is one of his first movies where he actually won some acclaim only as a director, winning the Golden Globe that year. This movie drags a lot, failing to really explain the genius of Parker and instead focusing on his personal life which is dominated by one note: his addiction to drugs and alcohol. So the movie is more about his struggles and unsuccessful attempts at getting clean and the effects on himself and the people around him. Because that is a common theme in movies, this movie seems slow as it takes two hours and forty minutes to tell a story we kind of know already. It is still interesting to see this time period in the 40’s and 50’s, mostly in New York, and meet some jazz greats like Dizzy Gillespie. And you do learn a lot about Charlie Parker and the fact that despite his acclaim, many still didn’t like what he was doing, and in fact jazz was becoming increasingly irrelevant, helped along by complex improvisation by Parker and his followers. Forest Whitaker as Parker does a good job, but Diane Venora as his wife struggles with some difficult dialogue. Ultimately there isn’t enough of a story to make a really gripping movie, especially if you can’t hear what makes this drug addict so special.
Written: 09 Apr 2022