Round Midnight, a film by Bertrand Tavernier

This music-forward 1986 film by French director Bertrand Tavernier showcases the work of bebop musicians in New York and especially Paris, where in 1959 tenor sax maestro Dale Turner, played by Dexter Gordon but inspired by Lester Young and Bud Powell, went to live. But it is the score that takes center stage – as it should! Finally, a film where the music really matters, with the images and story woven as background through inspired edits. 

Clearly Tavernier loves jazz – he would not interrupt a song to show the daily life of an alcoholic or Francis, the young Frenchman who, obsessed with his playing, meets his idol, befriends him, and finally looks after him. The music carries the movie. Herbie Hancock, who won an Oscar for Best Score, did a wonderful job – from Round Midnight to Body and Soul, Fair Weather, Una Noche con Francis, and How Long Has This Been Going On, the songs are performed live, with the musicians alternately playing onscreen and going about their lives. 

Gordon, also nominated for an Oscar for his performance, plays as only a truly accomplished musician can – but he also spices his role with asides to young Francis – “Was I good?” he asks with a mischievous grin after cadging drinks, or escaping a hospital ward, or finally prevailing on the nightclub owner and his "minder" to pay him nightly like every other musician. And Francis grins back and agrees he was good. 

Gordon was near the end of his life when he took this role, and you can see his exhaustion and precarious health, but also his rich mastery born of a lifetime of improvising, performing, and exploring new depths in his musical expression. Tavernier reminds us – to our benefit – that the pitfalls of an artist’s life are not what’s important about them: it’s what they create.