Mo' Better Blues

One of Spike Lee's best, "Mo Better Blues" captures the atmosphere of jazz. The soundtrack flows with the acting like a song. Denzel Washington does a great job of portraying a jazzman's quest for perfection, while living in a "real world" full of problems. Being a musician myself, I appreciated the struggle Washington's character was going through. All of Spike Lee's trademark camera angles (which I've disliked in some of his movies) worked to perfection in this movie. Great music, good acting, and a solid plot. Recommend!

This is a good romantic film featuring two of hollywood's biggest stars in denzel and wesley. What struck me most about this film was what it shared with the film called "Unforgiven". Without giving away too much, I was shocked that the hero here was found to clark kent leanings more than superman ones. Unsettling at first, I grew to appreciate that the protagonists small steps and minor triumphs are okay and arguably more realistic than the shafts of the world. I grew to accept the vulnerability of this spike lee character called bleak.

First of all let me see i'm a big jazz fan. Furthermore with Spike Lee as a director and a lot of good actors you have a good start for a film.

It's kind of a dramatic and comedy film. Denzell plays a terrific role as as an artist who only wants his music, and neglects his girlfriends. And after an accident loses his love of his life (music). Only then he starts to realise there is more to his life than music.......

This was a frustrating movie for me because it was at times brilliant, yet there are a few things that could have been done better.

Spike Lee shows why he is revered as a writer director, with beautiful dynamic shots, intercut with smooth jazz. It is a charming presentation. Also the dialogue is interesting and feels natural and spontaneous. The combination of strong writing and acting makes for interesting conversations.

The things I found frustrating was the lack of a focused or interesting story. Also Spike Lee's performance was very weak compared to Denzel's and he should have stayed out of the movie. He actually took a lot of the attention from the other characters and tried to make the movie about himself.

I really enjoyed this film. Everyone has a Bleek in his life: someone whose love of his life is all he knows, wants to know, etc. However, we always lose the love of our life for various reasons. Then, what do you do when the love of your life is suddenly taken from you? That is this film's theme. Bleek's only love was jazz music. Bleek's music was the only thing that mattered to him. Music overrode everything: an incompetent manager (who was his best friend), his lovers, and the contentment of his bandmates (the money issue which is related to having an incompetent manager). When Bleek lost the love of his life (watch the film to learn why), he was forced to make some hard choices about his life and face some unpleasant truths (something we've all had to do).

I enjoyed the score and the jazz pieces included in this film (after all, Bleek played the trumpet). I really liked the cinematography in this film because the film showed the beauty of New York City - the brownstones, the Manhattan skyline (a brief glimpse), the Brooklyn Bridge, etc.