Maxwell Columbus was once a popular guitar player in his home of Fiji, but when he came to the US it didn't really work out too well for him, resulting in regular jobs to support his wife and young son, although his playing did return when he got laid off. When his son, Mark, gets money from UCLA to make a green-screen project, Mark decides to make it around his father playing. However while filming something else is going on too.
It has to be said but this film really makes you drop your expectations early on. It opens with Maxwell playing the guitar on a tape he made himself. Over this scene (and throughout the film) our "narrator" introduces him and his background via yellow subtitles – the sort that really screams "first-time user of Windows Movie Maker". This device really grated on me because it felt like a YouTube upload of someone's father playing a guitar with nothing else to offer. The narration continues as we start to have basically the same action in front of a green screen and yet it gets messier because the narration loses focus and nothing is different. However it is worth staying with it because this is all part of it.
Eventually the film will get to something really quite moving and, as the music is faded out and into "Midnight City", we have the conclusions and they are beautifully done and presented in such a way that the whole film makes sense. The character of the narrator has summarized a journey that we all go on and has done it very well. Mark shows not only understanding but also the ability to bring the viewer quickly with him. In particular this will work for those approaching 30 or older, because this is the time when you start to see your parents for who they are and also recognize that you are who you are because of them (good and bad traits). The Battle of the Jazz Guitarist delivers this concept really well and with well chosen music to close it out, it somehow works – not despite the crappy font on the subs or the messy structure but because of them and other aspects. It feels like nothing but it is well worth staying with – particularly if you are a man over 30, you'll probably find it just beautifully done.
It has to be said but this film really makes you drop your expectations early on. It opens with Maxwell playing the guitar on a tape he made himself. Over this scene (and throughout the film) our "narrator" introduces him and his background via yellow subtitles – the sort that really screams "first-time user of Windows Movie Maker". This device really grated on me because it felt like a YouTube upload of someone's father playing a guitar with nothing else to offer. The narration continues as we start to have basically the same action in front of a green screen and yet it gets messier because the narration loses focus and nothing is different. However it is worth staying with it because this is all part of it.
Eventually the film will get to something really quite moving and, as the music is faded out and into "Midnight City", we have the conclusions and they are beautifully done and presented in such a way that the whole film makes sense. The character of the narrator has summarized a journey that we all go on and has done it very well. Mark shows not only understanding but also the ability to bring the viewer quickly with him. In particular this will work for those approaching 30 or older, because this is the time when you start to see your parents for who they are and also recognize that you are who you are because of them (good and bad traits). The Battle of the Jazz Guitarist delivers this concept really well and with well chosen music to close it out, it somehow works – not despite the crappy font on the subs or the messy structure but because of them and other aspects. It feels like nothing but it is well worth staying with – particularly if you are a man over 30, you'll probably find it just beautifully done.
