BIRD
US, 1988, 160 minutes, Colour.
Forest Whitaker, Diane Venora.
Directed by Clint Eastwood.
Bird is a portrait of the jazz great Charlie `Yardbird' Parker who died young after a life of alcohol, drugs and disappointment in 1955. However, his talent was very strong and modern sound engineering has separated his playing from his old records and blended it with contemporary arrangements (winning an Oscar for this engineering achievement). This is a long film, action is frequently at night, evoking the moods of Parker's life. Forest Whitaker won Best Actor award at the Cannes Film of 1988 for his portrayal of Parker, making him a credible but puzzling character. Diane Venora is effective as his common-law wife, Chan Richardson, who acted as technical adviser to the film.
The director of this carefully-constructed and filmed portrait is Clint Eastwood, who offers for jazz aficionados a strong tribute to Charlie Parker.
1.The reputation of Charlie Parker in the jazz world, in American music? The effect of this movie portrait?
2.The acclaim for the film, acting awards, sound engineering?
3.Clint Eastwood and his perspective, his love for jazz, tribute to Parker, skill in direction?
4.The structure of the screenplay: Parker going to hospital in 1954, the flashbacks, glimpses of his childhood and youth? The stylised symbols? Moving on from '54 to the time of his death the next year and his tragic going down in life, health, career?
5.The importance of the music, the jazz styles and their traditions, Parker from the '20s and '30s, his career in the '40s and '50s? The sound engineering to get his original saxophone-playing, blending it with '80s arrangements?
6.Forest Whitaker as Bird, his appearance, size, age? His illness and the context? The suicide attempt? The flashbacks to the young Charlie Parker, poverty, love for music, the Kansas City competition in 1936 and his failure - and the cymbal thrown - and its becoming a symbol throughout the film? His friends, Buster Franklin? Early introduction to drugs? His drinking? The effect on his health, age? Relationships, womanising - and the glimpse of the women fans and seduction? His musical ability, performance, Forrest Whittaker's miming the saxophone-playing? The relationship between his ability and his addictions? Seeing Parker at his best, at his worst?
7.The glimpses of Chan Richardson, her background as a dancer, from Westchester, Pennsylvania, her family background, her mother? The white woman in love with the black man? Her interest in him, meetings, relationship, common-law wife, the children, the children's illness? The death? The communication, tension, love and tenderness, his feeling peaceful with her? The importance of the dramatic dialogues between them, insight into each character? Parker's note on the refrigerator: `I love you. Think about it'? The ultimate crises, tensions? Her forgiveness?
8.Charlie Parker in the '40s, Dizzy Gillespie, the music, the travelling, drugs, collapse, hospital and treatment?
9.The '50s, Parker establishing himself? The narcotics, the police, the necessity of the cabaret card? His daughter's illness, the scenes of him coming home, playing? Change of moods? Travel, success in Paris, the 52nd Street club? The Depression and his suicide attempt?
10.The tour of the South, performance? Return to New York? The officer, the drugs, the court case, the loss of his cabaret card? Attempting success in California? Collapse and death? With the baroness? The prospect had he lived - and the coming rock and roll musical phase?
11.The women in his life, white women, the Baroness Nica, looking after him, his death? The doctor's visit - and surprise at his young age?
12.The portrait of Charlie Parker as centre of the film - and the characters seen in relation to him. Chan and the children, the women, his fellow artists?
13.Dizzy Gillespie and the other musicians, Gillespie's own life, wife, relationships, trying to cope with Charlie Parker, help him, the visits in New York, on tour? Red Rodney, friendship, the arrangements, the white man in the South - and reverse racism? The drugs, the police? Buster Franklin and his memories of the '30s, rock and roll in the '50s?
14.The film as a piece of Americana, the musical culture, racism, the American Dream and collapse, the quote from F. Scott Fitzgerald, `There are no second acts in American lives'?
