SummaryLittle is known about the life of musician Buddy Bolden: He was born on September 6, 1877. At the age of 30, he was committed to an asylum where he died in 1931. His only known recording has never been found. He invented Jazz.
Directed By:Dan Pritzker
Written By:Dan Pritzker, David Rothschild
Bolden
Metascore
Mixed or Average
50
User score
Generally Favorable
6.8
My Score
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Top Cast
Metascore
Mixed or Average
50
17% Positive
1 Review
1 Review
67% Mixed
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
17% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
May 3, 2019
63
The result is sometimes dizzying, enchanting or confounding, but it is certainly never boring.
May 7, 2019
60
Since the lead character is effectively a mystery man, some lack of grounding is appropriate. Unfortunately, the impressionism — the improvisation, you might say, of this particular life (mirroring, one supposes, Bolden's approach to music) — is so dominant that it finally proves a crutch.
May 2, 2019
60
Unfortunately, the film, costarring Erik LaRay Harvey, Robert Ri’chard and Ian McShane, turns overly violent, raw and showy, undermining the glorious music (written, arranged and performed by Wynton Marsalis), superb period re-creation and Carr’s powerful lead turn.
May 2, 2019
50
Pritzker and Rothschild’s script feels like such a composite of jazz biopics that its only in the performance sequences, parceled out stingily amid the misery, in which Bolden really comes alive.
May 2, 2019
40
What we end up with is a film that contains many fine moments -- the young Bolden's discovery of rhythm, an imagined discussion on musical improvisation between Bolden and clarinetist George Baquet, a look at racial politics of the day -- but those moments don't quite coalesce into a consistently satisfying whole.
May 3, 2019
38
Most filmgoers will come away only mildly convinced of Bolden’s place as jazz’s inventor and even less sure that the movie they just saw spun a coherent or compelling narrative.
User score
Generally Favorable
6.8
60% Positive
3 Ratings
3 Ratings
20% Mixed
1 Rating
1 Rating
20% Negative
1 Rating
1 Rating
May 9, 2019
7
More of a curiosity piece, than a movie, "Bolden" has top-notch production values. Unfortunately, too much time is spent focusing on the tragedy of Bolden's life and not enough on what made him a great artist. The film would have been great as a short film, but insufficiently developed for a feature. Recommended only for indie film fans and jazz aficionados.
May 3, 2019
5
The 5 stars are for the music only. If there's a soundtrack to buy, buy it and save yourself the time of watching this mess and the money it costs to go to the movies. Yes, there are some good scenes, particularly of the music being played by Buddy by Louie Armstrong, and the great musicians on the soundtrack. But, the movie itself is a disaster. There is no flow, no character development, and no sense of why all of this happened. It was a mystery and remains so. It's basically a vanity stream of consciousness fantasy by the writer or the director. It wasn't fun to watch.
Production Company:
- King Bolden
Release Date:May 3, 2019
Duration:1 h 48 m
Rating:R
Tagline:Where the Music Began
Website:
Awards
Camerimage
• 1 Nomination
Georgia Film Critics Association (GAFCA)
• 1 Nomination
