Review of Köln 75 – how the famous jazz show was transformed by a young German | Video

Here is a short play about one of the most important subjects in the history of experimental jazz. It’s visual, well-acted and avoids movie soundtracks – although I could have done without the fourth wall-breaking lesson about the genre of jazz. Perhaps he was inspired by the parallels in Adam McKay’s financial crisis movie The Big Shortthey are equally burdensome and humble.

John Magaro plays Keith Jarrettthe great jazz pianist and former friend of Miles Davis who in the 70s found himself on a grueling solo tour of Europe, conducting every night to enthusiastic jazz fans who were more numerous in Europe than in the US, while battling depression and back pain. Mala Emde plays 18-year-old Vera Brandes, an 18-year-old girl from Cologne who becomes a jazz activist after meeting Ronnie Scott, and rebelling against her careless dentist father, played here by Ulrich Tukur.

With incredible chutzpah, Vera books Jarrett to perform at the Köln Opera House, investing the DM10,000 she borrowed from her mother. He is forced at the last moment to make arrangements and arrange for a crudely and cynically repeated piano recital that has been misplaced in his concerto. Then he has to ask moody Jarrett not to get into Glenn Gould’s slanted way and stop it all. So it’s up to a young, passionate young man to chase the great master out of his frustration and despair to deliver what should be a classic jazz classic.

Michael Chernus plays jazz critic and journalist Mick Watts who is there to witness this special event, and it is Watts who attends Big Short’s training. It’s odd that we don’t hear much of it or the concert itself, perhaps due to copyright restrictions, and the final songs are accompanied by different songs. At every moment of confusion and fear, it seems as if Vera has to give up, because things are against her. But his angry brother tells him to find a way: “Change!” (I’d like to think that the most symbolic moment actually happened.) It’s a fun, action-adventure for Emde and the film delightfully avoids any question of reconciliation with his disaffected elderly father.