PROVOKR Pick: Bolden
Musical Biopic of Loss and Lyrics
Bolden, the just-released musical drama by director Dan Pritzker, tells the grim, violent and sad life story of musician Charles “Buddy” Bolden, a legend who left this world tragically unnoticed and unheard. Until now that is.
Gary Carr of HBO’s The Deuce plays the role of Bolden, an African American cornet player from New Orleans who many have considered to be the founding father of jazz. Unfortunately, Bolden ended up in an insane asylum for schizophrenia before his music was truly given the attention it deserved. From the age of 30 until his death in 1931, Bolden spent his life confined within the walls of incarceration for his mental illness. It is in the mental asylum that the movie begins, a secluded scene of desperation and loss.
The film plays out as a series of flashbacks from the musician’s troubled life filled with music success, struggles in a segregated south, drug use and family struggles. Sadly, his music, a driving force in his life, was never recorded. A combination of blues and a New Orleans style of ragtime music, Bolden’s music is depicted in the film through the master work of famed musician Wynton Marsalis with the writing, arrangement and performance of the film’s score.
Along with Carr, the biopic also stars Erik LaRay Harvey, Yaya DaCosta, Ian McShane and Michael Roker.
