Review: ‘Born to Be Blue,’ Portrait of a Trumpeter as a Heroin Addict

Feeling bad for Chet Baker while feeling good about his trumpet playing and his singing has been an enduring hobby of mine since my adolescence. The better news, though, is that I now feel good for Ethan Hawke, one of those actors who kept hanging around--waiting-always-waiting and doing a-thissa and a-thatta while hoping that along would come a role through which he might show all of us what a damned fine actor he is. Nice to finally meet you, Ethan,

Loved every minute of it. Could not have been better. I had to drive 120 miles round trip to see it and I played my Chet Baker CDs over and over in both directions. Years ago, when I lived in Greenwich Village, I witnessed a man, who looked much like a derelict, coming down the street supported on either side by two absolutely stunning women. I thought to myself, "I don't know who that is, but it's somebody." Later I realized this was Chet Baker, so different from those early pictures of him. Somebody indeed.

Not a fan of Baker's music. He doesn't hold a candle to Miles Davis or John Coltrane. Felt the movie was disjointed and at times fraudulent although Ethan Hawke does a decent job playing up the blubbering side of Baker's personality.
The encounter with his girl-friend's parents on the beach is sophmoric as is the encounters with Dizzy and Miles. Not sure why this movie was made but its quick exit to Pay-per-view was quite appropriate.

I loved the movie. Hawke was astounding. The screenplay excellent: it made me understand the addiction. For me, this was an introduction to Baker, which inspires me to find out, and listen, more.

Saw the film last night. Very good, but far from great. Ethan Hawke was great. Carmen Ejogo very good too. And there were times they really got the absolute beauty of Chet's music. That is something few films about music or musicians achieve.

A compelling story. A couple of moving sequencces. Two wonderful performances. But a script and direction that is cliche-ridden, flat-footed obvious and clunky. Chet Baker deserves better and so do we.

Saw the film and was stunned by Hawke's engaging portrayal and seamless integration of Baker's music to the story. Initially I questioned opening the film on Chet's least likable qualities. But his dogged determination to play, to practice his art despite his obvious personal flaws makes him relatable. His ultimate choice to sell his soul for his art is heartbreaking. Oscar-worthy performance by Ethan Hawke. Chet's music is beautifully performed, and an emotional highlight of the movie.

Strange. I have not seen the movie and this review does not make me want to see it.
I saw Chet Baker live playing in the basement of a place in Paris back in the early 80's. I didn't even know who he was. The music was so ethereal.
My friends wanted to leave and left. I stayed. And loved every minute.
His cut cheeks, his eyes closed. The way he held the trumpet so close and lovingly to his body.
Amazing.
I came home and told my boyfriend (jazz freak) that I saw some guy named Chet Baker and he went bonkers.
I will never forget how magical he made music sound.
RIP Chet.

I think I'd rather just listen to Baker's recordings. I fyou haven't heard him, I'll recommend "Arborway", which is on the CD recorded live in Japan, I believe in the eighties. I think it is called Live in Tokyo, or Live in Japan. His playing is absolutely magical- it is transcendent and lucid, astonishingly beautiful.

I have never seen a movie about jazz that was anything close to listening to the real thing. Save your money and buy a Chet Baker CD. Or several of them.

As part of Chet's 'cult',I'm just delighted that millennials in particular will finally get to experince some of the vibe that we have felt for the last 40 years!

I heard the first half of the Suarez interview before the station faded out of range. While Hawke's interest in the character seems real, his knowledge seems thin. His feeble attempt at singing (played during the interview) turned me off. Chet's drug habit caused him to be one of the most often recorded of jazz musicians, especially throughout most of the era depicted by this film. Just as it was criminal to make a film about Billie Holiday without her voice of the participation of a single musician who performed with her, many of which were alive at the time, the decision to treat Chet's music in the same manner can only be described as playing it both cheap and square. The very essence of Chet's music is the unique heart on his sleeve country-boy soulfulness of both his playing and singing. To make a film about him without that is to miss the man entirely. The great trumpeter Jack Sheldon, himself a fine singer, with a unique style not unlike Chet's, took formal singing lessons after Chet passed. I've suspected it was motivated by losing Chet. His interview within "Let's Get Lost" was about the only thing of worth in the film.

How is this a review of the film? Also, making Baker's lovers into one composite character is not "an astute casting decision." It's a decision made on the page, for the love of God and screenwriting. I'll see the film anyway, but this review was not helpful.

I heard Ethan Hawke talk engagingly with Ray Suarez on NPR yesterday about this film, and it made me want to see it. After reading this review, I have lost interest in seeing it altogether. I don't remember Hawke or Suarez mentioning that Baker's original music was not used. That is mostly why I wanted to see the movie; not to hear someone do an imitation or interpretation of Baker's music.

It was with some anticipation that I went to see a screening of "Born to Be Blue"
last week at the 92nd Street Y .. I knew Chet Baker from 1954 until his death in 1988. In his last years, I helped him with career here in the states. It's very hard to believe that Mr. Holden and I watched the same film. Ethan Hawke has great acting chops which he exhibited in a movie which was almost entirely fictional with a bad plot , bad script and bad premise. Plus Ethan Hawke probably realizes how hard it is to sing after performing several great standards in the film.. The only fictional jazz film that was good was Tavernier's "Round Midnight". Enough said ....

Why oh why would any decent director and producers opt to use a surrogate musician when the subject of the film has dozens of recorded works - instrumental and vocal - available, most having been reissued in digital format? A fantastic opportunity to introduce the high art of one of the founders of the West Coast Sound of Cool Jazz to a new generation. not to mention a soundtrack album that could go Gold in sales. if not Platinum, has been inexplicably lost. To save money? Crazy.

What amazes me most about this film is that it took so long to reach the screen. Or, that is to say, that any bio-drama about Baker took so long. With his Chris Isaak handsomeness, sexy-cool manner, and tragic story, one would think this would have been catnip to producers, and to actors who want to be the next James Dean. It's been a long time between this film and the beautiful documentary "Let's Get Lost."

Perhaps this was all for the best. Hawke not only resembles the late musician but has the acting chops to play the part. As soon as I saw the casting I was impressed. Based only on the trailer, Rober Budreau seems to be as ideal in the director's chair for this story.

With Don Cheadle's film about Miles Davis and Zoe Saldana's film about Nina Simone, this is a banner year for those of us who love both jazz and movies.

Revered, not worshipped.... For his music not his life. His style of playing was closer to Satchmo than Dizzy . He didn't have to play all the notes as fast as humanly possible, he just always seemed to play just the right notes at just the right time. His improvisations were like a musical stenography.

As a devout fan of Chet Baker, West Coast jazz and the Beach Boys, I was caught off guard and quite surprised by the connection Mr. Holden attempts to establish between West Coast jazz and the Beach Boys. Brian Wilson was primarily influenced by The Four Freshmen who, in turn, were acolytes of earlier close harmony vocal groups like The Modernaires or The Mel-Tones. So, where's the missing link between Wilson and West Coast jazz? I just don't see it.