dierregi This movie is a fictional reconstruction of a short period in the life of Baker, during the 60s. Starting with Chet in an Italian jail in 1966, the story quickly moves to New York, where Chet is invited to play himself in a documentary about his life. Then follows one of the most amazing scenes I ever saw.Opening as a black & white flashback, we see a young Chet in 1954, playing very cool in Birdland, with Miles Davis and Dizzie Gillespie in the audience. In the backstage we see what should be Baker's initiation to heroin, but we discover that the scene is actually part of the documentary.Brilliant film-making is made of such scenes conveying all the magic of cinema. The story continues with Chet trying to rebuild his "career" with a help of a female artist, unfortunate enough to be attracted by his relatively good looks and melancholic charm. The pair moves from New York to California, where Chet swear to be clean and ready to play some serious jazz.Unfortunately, Chet was the master of all junkies, unreliable, selfish and self-destructive. His girlfriend wisely dumps him and off he goes to enjoy the company of heroin until the day he died.I am not a jazz fan and never heard any of the music Baker played, so I cannot comment about the remarks about the music not being good enough or even detrimental to the movie. For me it was a very well written and executed film, with a solid plot and good performances.PS: as far as "blackening the reputation" of Baker... I never understood why junkie musicians should be idolized. The history of contemporary music is paved with unpleasant, self-destructive characters who had exceptional musical skills. Egotism does not make them any less talented, but certainly does not add to their charm. If you want to see what years of heroin addiction do to the body, just check the photos of Chet from his early 20s until the end of his life. The crevasses on his face mirrors the destruction of his internal organs....

ifet I was going to say initially that Ethan Hawke was miscast, but since this is a work of fiction it does not matter. It is a story of a trumpeter addicted to heroin, who together with his lady friend struggles to establish a career. But Chet Baker has nothing to do with it. Kevin Turcotte played all his solos, and I particularly liked the piano of David Braid, who I had seen in Toronto. There is no mention or reference to Chet's association with Gerry Mulligan the baritone sax player and their pianoless quartet which became world famous. The trumpeter in this story was beaten by a drug dealer and his cronies, so badly that his teeth were purposely knocked out and of course we all know this is what regrettably happened to the real Chet. I heard Chet Baker on Music for Moderns on the radio in the 60s in England and I was fascinated by him and his sound. Happily I can say I have much of the important music he created in my CD collection. And today computer to stereo 20 ft away via Apple Airport Express wirelessly.... Russ Freeman on piano, with Chet playing "Bea's Flat"simply blew my mind. I mean the original 1953 recording version with Larry Bunker on drums (not the Boston 1954 later version). Listen to that and you will hear amazing melodic and inventive trumpet at medium tempo with piano bass and drums, and for any trumpeter reading this I challenge you to play it. I am a jazz fan, Chet was a jazz trumpet man I can never forget... from Malcolm Hopkinson in Toronto Aug 2016

Reno Rangan This is not a bad semi-biographical music-drama with a little romance in it, but many of us have no idea of its existence because it is not a Hollywood. For me it was just an above average, because of the first 30 minutes. In those narrations it was very boring, you know a film needs a good opening and this film's first impression failed. But next one hour, till the final scene was much better. Except I hated the whispering dialogues which this film had everywhere.I don't know who is Chet Baker, thanks to this film for introducing him to me. This story is no special compared to other biopics related to music and singing. Like fame and drugs taking over the career where one struggles to rise back from the fall. This is the same old crap, except it is a jazz theme, but everything was lightly portrayed without making much complication. I mean it centres only on the romance and music, everything else was never given preference. Except in parts where the couple seeks support from the outside world like the opportunities and meeting their parents.The film focused only a certain stage of the life of Chet. It is very sad not knowing his earlier life as well as his Europe settlement in the later on which looks much more interesting than what they narrated in this. Ethan Hawke was great as usual and so his co-stars. There's no harm for once viewing, but some people feel it more depressing than enjoyable or entertaining. So the film is for the selected audience and make sure you're one of them before going for it. 6/10

zif ofoz Ethan Hawke as Chet Baker is giving us a characterization of Chet Baker not as the person but surely as what it felt like to be Chet Baker. It is Chet Baker trying to understand himself and how his music was a projection of himself to which he was always striving to make more perfect. No human can do this therefore the heroin was an escape from himself.Carmen Ejogo positively shines as the two women in his life. As his girlfriend Elaine she tries to bring some sense of balance and grounding into his mixed-up life and realizes late into their loveship she will always be second to his music and drugs.This story is fascinating and painful. And this is where the viewer may experience compassion burnout because Baker is forever making the same mistakes. He cannot see this but you the viewer will see it and by movies end you just do not care anymore. Everything about this movie is right but by the end you are just at the point of being bored!Still this is a film worth every minute of viewing time.