Blue Like Jazz
2012 Directed by Steve Taylor
Synopsis
Everybody belongs somewhere
A young man must find his own way as his Southern Baptist roots don't seem to be acceptable at his new liberal arts college.
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Shockingly good. The biggest problem is that it's too Christian for non-Christians and not Christian enough for Christians. Shame, 'cause it's pretty damn solid.
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Blue Like Jazz is a film that strives for big things but doesn't quite manage to deliver. The first half meanders around with very little story or character depth; the motivations and relationships are understandable but lack conviction.
However, it does improve in the second half and the closing scene is absolutely fantastic. The ending alone raises my rating by half a star.
Unfortunately, it doesn't make for a complete film. Don's journey is humorous and intriguing at times, but shallow and silly at others, with no real direction to the story.
The film has polarized Christian audiences, and for good reason. It's fairly coarse. I understand the reasoning behind the content, but believe it to be unnecessary here. It…
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This review reportedly contains spoilers. I can handle the truth.
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This movie was...interesting. I have to re-read the book because I honestly didn't remember a lot of his experiences, but I remembered there was stuff I agreed with and stuff I didn't agree with.
Since the book was more a memoir in the style of ramblings, it was a bit awkward to piece together the narrative in the film. The acting was decent...better than most Christian indie films. But I feel like the movie suffers from being too "middle-ground" by not diving deeply into the doubt Don had, and also not fleshing out the relationships that helped him realize/strengthen his faith.
The confession booth scene was powerful, though. It's not easy to ask for forgiveness when you're supposed to be…
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This review reportedly contains spoilers. I can handle the truth.
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I know that Donald Miller and director Steve Taylor like to take pains to say this isn't a "Christian movie," but I have to disagree with them. Although it's not as cut-and-dry and preachy as a Christian subculture film, I feel that this film exemplifies the compassion and love Christ shows for people in a better way than most of the "godsploitation" flicks I see at Christian bookstores.
It veers away quite a bit from Miller's best-selling memoir, but finds a strong narrative in the story of a fundamentalist Baptist encountering the rest of the world on the campus of Reed College. While I'd ding it some points for some too on-the-nose quirks (the animated rabbit and carrot make sense…
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Ļoti simpātisks "ikdienišķs" kino. Noteikti noskaties!
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Si viste Life Of Pi y sigues buscando una reflexión más terrenal sobre la religión y las grandes preguntas de la vida, entonces esta coming-of-age movie es la opción ideal.
La universidad Reed es el personaje principal en esta historia que prioriza el respeto ante cualquier otra creencia. Pero quizá lo mejor de Blue Like Jazz es la tridimensionalidad de los personajes: impredecibles, sorprendentes, humanos, naturales, en fin.
Quitando ese efecto especial inicial tan tercermundista, sin duda de mis películas favoritas del año.
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Shockingly good. The biggest problem is that it's too Christian for non-Christians and not Christian enough for Christians. Shame, 'cause it's pretty damn solid.
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If what we Christians have to offer is poorly regurgitated pop culture wrapped around cliches about Christ then we’ve failed. Don was right to run far, far away from that which he came. He may not have come to any meaningful conclusion, and Blue Like Jazz may not have been a very good film, but at least Don ended up around people who weren’t going to confuse their idolatry for Christianity. That’s a start.
joshuahoover.com/2012/10/30/way-late-review-blue-like-jazz/ -
This was a special movie for me. My love of Donald Miller is endless. All of his books are great.
I got to go to a special screening of this and meet him and the director, and the star.
The movie is not as great as the book. But few are.
I say this movie is best to watch with a group of people so you can talk about it afterwards.