Sweet and Lowdown Movie Review

As a long-time Woody Allen fan and jazz guitar player I looked forward to seeing this movie. It came highly recommended and I was disappointed on a lot of levels.

First, there was not one minute while watching this film that I wasn't aware of the fact that I was viewing a performance. The acting was stilted and even Sean Penn's performance seemed affected.

Second, despite having lived an interesting and somewhat sordid decade or two travelling and playing guitar myself, I could not relate even slightly to the protagonist. Granted, the time period was a factor, but the lead character (Emmet Ray) was so one-dimensional that I found it impossible to empathise with him on a human level.

Third, while monologues from people like Woody Allen were interesting, they offered no more than speculation and conjecture. The relationship between Mr. Ray and the people doing the talking was never made clear and as a result the viewer was left scratching his head wondering about the source of their information. Additionally, the random breaks in the action of the film served to disrupt what little momentum might have been building.

Fourth, in at least one scene we are treated to three alternatives as to what happens. I believe the intent was to let the viewer know that anything was possible and no one really knows what happened. But that is disconcerting to the average movie goer who usually wants to be told a story - not given a series of possibilities and left to wonder.

Fifth, Mr. Penn's phony fingering on the guitar neck was distracting and detracted from the viewing experience. It's like watching someone lipsynch poorly. The scenes where he's playing should have been edited in such a way that his hands weren't shown - at least during some of the very difficult pieces.

Sixth, what the hell happened? Did he divorce Blanche? Did he father a child? Did he return to Hattie? Did he stop playing? Just saying that he disappeared strikes me as a lazy way to end a film.

Having said all of that, I loved the guitar playing. I hadn't heard of Howard Allen before, but I plan on finding some of his recordings. That's the one positive thing I got out of the film.

Summary - A movie tells a story, with a beginning, middle and end. This one had a beginning, alternative middles and no real end. It was unsatisfying and overrated. Do yourself a favor and just buy the soundtrack.

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