Clint Eastwood is a multifunctional film legend. Not only is he a great actor, playing legendary characters, but he is maybe an even better filmmaker. “Bird” is a forgotten film out of his impressive filmography which we like to correct.
Saxophone player Charlie Parker comes to New York in 1940. He is quickly noticed for his remarkable way of playing. He becomes a drug addict but his loving wife Chan tries to help him. (Imdb)
Clint Eastwood (“American Sniper”, “Unforgiven”, “Million Dollars Baby”) doesn’t direct the cliché biopic but decides to show the real situations in which Charlie Parker lived: the atmosphere, the music, the nightclubs, the addictions etc. Perfectly recreating the nightclubs and transporting the viewer into the crazy jazz scene. Helped by a fabulous portrayal by Forest Whitaker, Parker receives the beautiful and intense biopic he deserves.
Eastwood loves to tell stories of loners, much like the characters he plays in his films and Parker is the perfect fit for Eastwood, an avid piano player himself. The movie was stuck in production hell for more than 10 years and originally famous comedian Richard Pryor (“Brewster’s Millions”, “Stir Crazy”) was going to play the lead role, but after waiting for so much time he decided to leave the project.
The famous American film critic Roger Ebert reviewed the film perfectly writing: ““Bird” wisely does not attempt to “explain” Parker’s music by connecting experiences with musical discoveries. This is a film of music, not about it, and one of the most extraordinary things about it is that we are really, literally, hearing Parker on the soundtrack.”
Forest Whitaker won the Best Actor award at the 1988 Cannes Film Festival and received a Golden Globe nomination. “Bird” won the Oscar for Best Sound.
