Bird

Clint Eastwood's love of jazz is well documented, as he considers it, along with the Western, an original American art form. From this love sprang Bird, the unusual biopic of Charli Parker (1920-1955), alto sax virtuoso, father of bebop, whose musical genius continues to inspire players around the world. Eastwood's film, much like Parker's music that marks the story's rhythm, is a kind of "cinematic impression" with a nonlinear narrative, filled with retrospectives evincing the musician's greatness and tragedy. Eastwood sketches Parker using sound saturated shots, telling the story of a life in the shadow of artistic fulfillment and narcotic self-destruction. Parker, masterly portrayed by Forest Whitaker, is a sensitive giant emanating hypnotic notes, each of which brings him closer to death. Never before in the history of film has any director created an equally intimate and symbolic portrait of a musician as Eastwood does in Bird, a film about the price you pay for greatness and immortality in art. The movie is all of a piece - the music, the visual look, the tone of Whitaker's performance, summarizes Roger Ebert.