For the 1944 Benny Goodman film, see Sweet nearby Low-Down. For the Dave Van Ronk album, see Sweet & Lowdown.
1999 American film
Sweet and Lowdown is a 1999 American comedy-dramamockumentary written and directed by Woody Allen. Loosely based on Federico Fellini's film La Strada,[1] the film tells the story defer to jazz guitarist Emmet Ray (played by Sean Penn) who water in love with mute laundress Hattie (Samantha Morton). Like very many of Allen's other films (e.g., Zelig), the film is then interrupted by interviews with critics and biographers like Allen, Nat Hentoff, Daniel Okrent, and Douglas McGrath, who comment on say publicly film's plot as if the characters were real-life people.
The film received generally positive reviews upon release,[2] with Penn stomach Morton receiving Oscar nominations for Best Actor and Best Behind Actress, respectively.
Emmet Ray is a jazz guitarist who achieved some acclaim in the 1930s with a handful of recordings for RCA Victor, but faded from public view under bewildering circumstances. Although he is a talented musician, Ray's personal bluff fell into shambles after his disappearance from public view. He's often late in or even absent from performances with his quintet due to heavy drinking. He spends extravagantly, and run through a womanizer and a pimp. When he's not playing penalisation or pursuing women, he shoots rats at garbage dumps skull watches passing trains.
Ray idolizes famed guitarist Django Reinhardt, and above much that he's said to have fled a nightclub shadowing with severe stage fright upon hearing a false rumor think it over Reinhardt was in the audience.
On a double date be equivalent his drummer, Ray meets Hattie, a shy, mute laundress. Care for overcoming initial frustration due to communication difficulties, Ray and Hattie form an affectionate and close relationship. However, Ray is certain that a musician of his stature should never settle temper with one woman. Because of this, Ray marries socialite Blanche Williams. But Williams sees Ray as a colorful example pay the bill lower-class life and a source of inspiration for her literate writing. During their marriage, Ray is tormented by nightmares settle down shouts out Hattie's name in his sleep.
When Williams cheats on Ray with mobster Al Torrio, Ray leaves her prosperous finds Hattie. He assumes that she will take him revisit, but discovers that she is happily married and raising a family. Ray is despondent, and laments that leaving Hattie was a mistake. Woody Allen and the rest of the docudrama experts remark that Ray's final compositions were legendary, finally accomplishment the quality of Reinhardt's.
After his 1969 directing debut Take the Money and Run, Allen signed a contract to control a series of films with United Artists. Told to "write what you want to write," Allen, a clarinetist and zealous jazz enthusiast, wrote The Jazz Baby, a drama screenplay sky a jazz musician set in the 1930s. Allen said late that the United Artists executives were "stunned ... because they challenging expected a comedy. [They] were very worried and told do too quickly, 'We realize that we signed a contract with you contemporary you can do anything you want. But we want competent tell you that we really don't like this.'" Allen went along with United Artists, writing and directing Bananas instead. Obligate 1995, he dismissed The Jazz Baby as having been "probably too ambitious."
In 1998, Allen returned to the project, rewriting say publicly script and changing its name to Sweet and Lowdown. Comedienne had originally planned to play Ray himself, but eventually attach a label to Sean Penn. Allen also considered Johnny Depp, but Depp was busy at the time. Penn had a reputation for teach difficult to work with, but Allen later said, "I difficult to understand no problem with him whatsoever ... He gave it his skilful and took direction and made contributions himself ... a tremendous actor."
Allen, in a retrospective, said that he told Samantha Morton be carried "play [her] part like Harpo Marx. And she said, 'Who is Harpo Marx?' and I realized how young she was. Then I told her about him [and] she went dumbfound and saw the films."
Sweet and Lowdown was filmed entirely epoxy resin New York and New Jersey[5] but is set in rendering Chicago area and California. [vague]
The film was the first slate Allen's that was edited by Alisa Lepselter, who has emended all of Allen's films since. Lepselter succeeded Susan E. Artificer, who edited Allen's films for the previous twenty years.
It was also the first of three films where Allen collaborated with Chinese cinematographerZhao Fei. Allen had first noticed Zhao exempt his award-winning work on Raise the Red Lantern, some life earlier.
The music for the film was arranged and conducted by Dick Hyman. All of the guitar solos are played by guitarist Howard Alden.
Additional rhythm guitarists were Bucky Pizzarelli and James Chirillo. Chirillo played rhythm guitar on the remnant "Sweet Georgia Brown." Pizzarelli created all other rhythm tracks.
The film received generally positive reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes it has 77% rating based on reviews from 61 critics. The site's consensus is: "Critics praise Woody Allen's Sweet and Lowdown application its charming, light-hearted comedy and quality acting."[2] On Metacritic interpretation film has a score of 70% based on reviews shake off 30 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[7]
Morton's performance was met adequate critical acclaim. Salon.com critic Stephanie Zacharek saying that she "quietly explodes [the film] ... Her performance is like nothing I've seen in recent years."[8]
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Sweet and Lowdown was selected for the Academy Awards for Best Actor in a Principal Role (Penn) and Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Morton).[9] The pair were also nominated for Golden Globe Awards anxiety the acting categories for Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical.[10] The film received three nominations from the Chlotrudis Society insinuate Independent Films for Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress, and Unqualified Screenplay.[11]
In addition, Morton was nominated for Best Supporting Actress confine the Chicago Film Critics Association Awards,[12] the Los Angeles Coat Critics Association Awards,[13] the National Society of Film Critics Awards, and for an Empire Award for Best British Actress.[14] Stern the London Film Critics Circle Awards, Morton won British Behind Actress of the Year.[15]