Low Down


Low Down is a 2014 American biopic directed by Jeff Preiss and based on the memoirs written by Amy-Jo Albany about her father, famed jazz pianist Joe Albany, and his struggles with drug addiction.
The film was executive produced by Anthony Kiedis and Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
The film premiered in competition at 2014 Sundance Film Festival on January 19, 2014. It won the "Cinematography Award: U.S. Dramatic" at the festival.

Plot summary

Joe Albany was an accomplished jazz pianist during the 1960s through the 1980s, performing with the likes of Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, and Charles Mingus before his descent into heroin addiction. The film tells the story of Albany's life from the perspective of his daughter, Amy-Jo Albany, a frequent witness to his drug use as well as his passion for music.

Cast

Actor Mark Ruffalo was originally cast as Joe Albany in 2011 but was forced to back out due to scheduling issues and production being delayed.

Release

The film made its debut at the Sundance Film Festival on January 19, 2014, winning an award for Best Cinematography. It also won Best Film at the New Hampshire Film Festival in 2014. The first official trailer was released on September 18, 2014. The film opened to a limited release on October 24, 2014 in New York City and October 31, 2014 in Los Angeles.

Reception

Low Down was met with mixed reviews. Review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes sampled 47 critics' reviews, 24 positive and 23 negative, bringing the score to 51%, averaging 5.68/10. The film's consensus reads: "Rich in mood and on-screen talent but lacking in narrative depth, Low Down tells an oft-told tale with a troubling dearth of imagination." Metacritic, another review aggregator, gives the film 58 out of 100 based on reviews from 21 critics, with its general agreement being "mixed or average reviews."
Matt Zoller Seitz, writing for RogerEbert.com, gave the film three-and-a-half stars out of four, calling it "a very good jazz movie and a very good heroin movie," while Rex Reed described Elle Fanning's performance as "heartbreaking." George Varga of the San Diego Union-Tribune deemed Low Down "a grimly gripping movie" but was less effusive than Seitz, giving it two-and-a-half stars.
David Edelstein, in Vulture, praised the performances by Hawkes, Fanning, and much of the supporting cast, but felt that the film was "not as entertaining as" the book on which it was based: "The weakness of Low Down is that it misses the wry tone and scruffy, eccentrically funny parts of Albany’s memoir."