A new biopic, 'Köln 75', tells the remarkable story of how an 18-year-old German girl persuaded a sickly American pianist to perform what became a landmark jazz concert. The film is watchable and well-acted, avoiding typical music-movie clichés, though it includes some heavy-handed fourth-wall-breaking lectures about jazz improvisation reminiscent of 'The Big Short'.
John Magaro plays Keith Jarrett, the great jazz pianist and former Miles Davis collaborator, who in the mid-1970s was on a gruelling European solo tour. Struggling with depression and back pain, he improvised nightly for ecstatic audiences. Mala Emde portrays Vera Brandes, a precocious teenager from Cologne who became a jazz promoter after meeting Ronnie Scott, rebelling against her conservative dentist father.
With extraordinary chutzpah, Vera books Jarrett to play at the Köln Opera House, putting up a DM10,000 deposit borrowed from her mother. At the last moment, she must arrange a desperate repair for the rickety rehearsal piano and beg the moody Jarrett not to cancel. The film focuses on how the feisty teen jolts the genius out of his despair to deliver the performance that became an iconic live jazz album.
Michael Chernus plays jazz critic Mick Watts, who provides the 'Big Short'-style lessons. Oddly, the concert itself is barely heard, likely due to copyright restrictions, and the final montage uses different music. Despite the chaos, Vera's brother urges her to 'improvise', a symbolic moment that may be true. Emde gives a fizzy performance, and the film avoids sentimental reconciliation with her father.
