Oscilloscope Laboratories
has tabbed Mar. 10 for the DVD debut of director Jeff Preiss’ film adaptation
of Amy-Jo Albany’s memoir about her jazz pianist father, Joe Albany, “Low Down:
Junk, Jazz, and Other Fairy Tales from Childhood.”
Titled for the screen as
simply Low Down, John Hawkes (Winter’s Bone, The Sessions, etc.) stars
as Joe Albany, while Elle Fanning takes on the role of his young, but
insightful, daughter, Amy-Jo.
The ARR is 137 days and
the film’s limited arthouse run generated ticket sales of $44,500. The film made its debut at the Sundance
Film Festival in January of 2014 and then worked the festival circuit
throughout most of 2014. The DVD
rollout by Oscilloscope gives Low Down an excellent opportunity to
reach a much wider audience, especially those drawn to the jazz milieu.
A contemporary of Benny
Carter, Charlie
Parker, Charles Mingus and Miles Davis, Albany recorded no less than eight
albums under his own name (and contributed his talents to others) and was
celebrated by his peers for his touch of genius, but his demons of drug
addiction and poor choices brought him a life of despair and all too predicable
sad ending.
The film pulls back the covers on a lifestyle that is equal
parts music, creativity and darkness … all seen from the POV of his daughter.
Of note, six-time nominee for acting Oscars, Glenn Close,
does a nice turn as Albany’s streetwise mother.
Bonus features here include commentary with filmmaker Jeff Preiss, who is joined by jazz saxophonist
and composer Ohad Talmor and Village
Voice film critic Ed Halter, plus a behind-the-scenes featurette.
No comments:
Post a Comment