The story of jazz pianist Joe Albany is one we've heard before: talented in music, not so successful in life. The drug-addicted musician was one of the few Caucasian pianists respected in the genre, but his personal demons held back would could have been an even greater career. With Low Down, debuting director Jeff Preiss recreates the dying jazz music scene of 1970s Los Angeles in faithfully despairing tones, matched only by a bleak and stagnant mood that is a complete and utter drag.
The film isn't so much about Albany as his daughter, Amy-Jo (Elle Fanning), whose memoir inspires this tale of a troubling tale of drugs, bad parenting, and stunted childhoods. The always-great John Hawkes plays Joe, the father she loves even though he will do nothing but disappoint her forever. When the film begins we see him being arrested, slammed up against a car right in front of her eyes, just after a fleeting moment of happiness. Such moments continue to be fleeting on the rare occasions they occur in this desolate picture. Told mostly from Amy-Jo's perspective, there's also very little actual jazz to be heard, or at least not enough for those who appreciate the genre and know Albany's music. Drugs and a weird assortment of afflicted characters populate Amy-Jo's world, which is just the rundown crack den of an apartment complex she calls home. Joe's "friends" stop by all the time for a visit; him awkwardly coming up with excuses to duck out and get high. Amy-Jo adores her father to a fault, or as she puts it early on her love for him is "out of proportion". She will forgive him anything, he loves her but not enough to change his ways. Her estranged mother (Lena Headey) is far worse; an alcoholic with a poisonous attitude. Only Amy-Jo's battle ax of a grandmother (Glenn Close) and brief fling with an epileptic boy (Caleb Landry Jones) offer a brief glimmer of hope. Don't count on it to last. Not even strange appearances by Peter Dinklage, Flea, and Orange is the New Black's Taryn Manning can uplift this film's dank spirits.
On the flipside, though, that was probably what Preiss was going for. Clearly, he knew Albany's story was going to be one long wet blanket, but did he have to go quite so far? The audience is rarely given a moment to stop and breathe, to steady themselves for the latest awful twist of fate to occur. Shot with painstaking detail in naturally dark undertones by cinematographer Christopher Blauvelt (The Bling Ring), he nails the mood Preiss was aiming for, even if it's not the most pleasing to the eye. Then again, Low Down isn't meant to be a pleasing movie; the producers admitted as much during a special Q&A after its screening here in Middleburg. So that begs the question, "Who is this movie for?" Maybe those who appreciate the talents of Hawkes and Fanning, who are both predictably good here, but too bad you'll be too miserable to care. Low Down is a terminally depressing, low-key film that will leave anyone who sees it in a complete funk.
Rating: 2 out of 5
