Korean directors have made headlines in Hollywood the last two years, and Justin Chon may just be next in line. Bong Joon-ho’s “Parasite” and Isaac Lee-Chung’s “Minari” won a variety of accolades; between the two of them, they boast 5 Oscars, 2 Golden Globes, and a Palme d’Or to boot. Chon – whose latest release “Blue Bayou” had also been selected for Cannes 2020 – has been reviewed as another potential favorite for the 2021 awards season. This time, Chon introduces a different Korean American tale to the table: that of involuntary migration.
“Blue Bayou” is screening at Vesoul International Film Festival of Asian Cinema
In “Blue Bayou,” Antonio (Justin Chon) is an ethnic-Korean adoptee who is not exactly a model citizen. He’s a small-time tattoo artist with a criminal record; moreover, as the movie shows, he’s prone to run away from his problems (oftentimes on a motorcycle). Despite his speckled past,...
“Blue Bayou” is screening at Vesoul International Film Festival of Asian Cinema
In “Blue Bayou,” Antonio (Justin Chon) is an ethnic-Korean adoptee who is not exactly a model citizen. He’s a small-time tattoo artist with a criminal record; moreover, as the movie shows, he’s prone to run away from his problems (oftentimes on a motorcycle). Despite his speckled past,...
- 3/1/2023
- by Grace Han
- AsianMoviePulse
When Tyler Perry wrote the screenplay for “A Jazzman’s Blues” in 1995, he imagined Diana Ross in the role of Hattie Mae, mother to a young man named Bayou (Joshua Boone) and an entrepreneurial woman who opens a juke joint in the 1940s South. When Perry finally made the movie — a passion project he held onto for 27 years, which is now streaming on Netflix — he turned to Amirah Vann to play the role.
Best known for powerhouse performances opposite Emmy-winner Viola Davis in “How to Get Away With Murder,” as well as major roles in “Queen Sugar” and “Underground”, Vann was “honored” to get the call from Perry — and even more so that he believed she possessed acting and singing chops comparable to Ross.
“The first time I remember him saying it, I was like, ‘Wait a minute?’” Vann tells Variety over the phone. “It just made me feel so honored.
Best known for powerhouse performances opposite Emmy-winner Viola Davis in “How to Get Away With Murder,” as well as major roles in “Queen Sugar” and “Underground”, Vann was “honored” to get the call from Perry — and even more so that he believed she possessed acting and singing chops comparable to Ross.
“The first time I remember him saying it, I was like, ‘Wait a minute?’” Vann tells Variety over the phone. “It just made me feel so honored.
- 11/8/2022
- by Angelique Jackson
- Variety Film + TV
A new renaissance in hairstyling and makeup for Black actors appears to be on the horizon, thanks to the work of female artisans on a trio of recent period films: “The Woman King,” “Till” and “A Jazzman’s Blues.”
Braiding, twists and locs were a staple for characters in Gina Prince-Bythewood’s “The Woman King,” set in 1823 in the African kingdom of Dahomey, now known as Benin. Hair department head Louisa Anthony researched and collaborated with locals in South Africa to secure a stellar team on the movie, which stars Viola Davis.
Although a historian and a research specialist were on set, there was very little available photography from the period, so the makeup team relied mostly on sketches. “Google search was quite helpful in going back to discover hundreds of years of African hairstyling and braiding for us to attempt to blend today and yesterday into one creative look that...
Braiding, twists and locs were a staple for characters in Gina Prince-Bythewood’s “The Woman King,” set in 1823 in the African kingdom of Dahomey, now known as Benin. Hair department head Louisa Anthony researched and collaborated with locals in South Africa to secure a stellar team on the movie, which stars Viola Davis.
Although a historian and a research specialist were on set, there was very little available photography from the period, so the makeup team relied mostly on sketches. “Google search was quite helpful in going back to discover hundreds of years of African hairstyling and braiding for us to attempt to blend today and yesterday into one creative look that...
- 10/29/2022
- by Carla Renata
- Variety Film + TV
The mix of musical genres in the title of this Toronto Film Festival Gala Presentation reflects the wildly uneven tone of this rare drama from Tyler Perry Studios, a lush romantic musical telling the story of a Southern lynching with echoes of the murder of Emmett Till in Mississippi 1955. An imminent bow on Netflix is probably the best strategy for it; Perry may have his following, but it’s hard to imagine a crossover audience for A Jazzman’s Blues.
The setting is the city of Hopewell in Georgia, 1987, and an old Black lady is listening to a TV interview with a local politician, who’s talking down competition from an African American candidate by invoking the now-familiar GOP taking point of inverse racism. “I’ve had just about enough of you, mister white man,” she tells the screen and sets off to his office. Once there, she refuses to leave,...
The setting is the city of Hopewell in Georgia, 1987, and an old Black lady is listening to a TV interview with a local politician, who’s talking down competition from an African American candidate by invoking the now-familiar GOP taking point of inverse racism. “I’ve had just about enough of you, mister white man,” she tells the screen and sets off to his office. Once there, she refuses to leave,...
- 9/13/2022
- by Damon Wise
- Deadline Film + TV
Writer-director Tyler Perry has been living with the screenplay for “A Jazzman’s Blues” for 27 years, longer than it takes most kids to grow up and move out of the house. Inspired by a chance meeting between Perry and playwright August Wilson in 1995, You can’t keep a good melodrama down.
A glowingly lensed Jim Crow-era drama, “Jazzman’s” not unlike “Green Book” or “The Help” — absent the pandering to white audiences’ anxiety about being (to paraphrase a meme) the baddies in this situation. There is one sympathetic white character, Holocaust survivor Ira (Ryan Eggold); his German accent is as exaggerated as the rest of the cast’s Southern drawls. But while the same folks who liked “Green Book” will likely enjoy “A Jazzman’s Blues,” Perry puts Black life in rural Georgia in the 1930s and ‘40s at the center of his story — no white intermediaries required.
We open on a modest clapboard home in Hopewell,...
A glowingly lensed Jim Crow-era drama, “Jazzman’s” not unlike “Green Book” or “The Help” — absent the pandering to white audiences’ anxiety about being (to paraphrase a meme) the baddies in this situation. There is one sympathetic white character, Holocaust survivor Ira (Ryan Eggold); his German accent is as exaggerated as the rest of the cast’s Southern drawls. But while the same folks who liked “Green Book” will likely enjoy “A Jazzman’s Blues,” Perry puts Black life in rural Georgia in the 1930s and ‘40s at the center of his story — no white intermediaries required.
We open on a modest clapboard home in Hopewell,...
- 9/13/2022
- by Katie Rife
- Indiewire
Like an ice-cream shop that offers you the choice of pistachio or strawberry and nothing else, the movies Tyler Perry has been churning out for 20 years come in just two flavors: comedy and soap opera. It’s worth noting, in this case, how the flavors blend. Most often, they’re stacked right next to each other, as when Perry’s great sass-mouth frump Madea suddenly plops into the middle of a dramatic scene. Yet there’s a way that the antic, ribald broadness of Perry’s comedy bends the drama into being more over-the-top. That’s why his movies are all of a piece even when they’re all over the place. They feed you pistachio and strawberry, and by the time that’s all melted together you’re tasting one flavor. Call it Tyler Perry with Nuts.
All of which makes “A Jazzman’s Blues,” which premiered last night at the Toronto International Film Festival,...
All of which makes “A Jazzman’s Blues,” which premiered last night at the Toronto International Film Festival,...
- 9/13/2022
- by Owen Gleiberman
- Variety Film + TV
Tyler Perry on ‘A Jazzman’s Blues,’ a Film 27 Years in the Making, Inspired by His Childhood (Video)
“A Jazzman’s Blues” was a movie adventure 27 years in the making for Tyler Perry, who wrote the screenplay in 1995, the first ever for the prodigious writer-director-actor-magnate. After the project stalled in the mid-2000s, cameras finally started rolling last year in Savannah, Georgia. And in 2022, the sprawling, music-filled Southern Gothic romance of Perry’s dreams was born.
Perry gathered much of his cast, including Amirah Vann, Solea Pfeiffer, Ryan Eggold, Austin Scott, Milauna Jackson, Lana Young and lead Joshua Boone to sit down with Executive Editor, Awards, Steve Pond at TheWrap and Shutterstock’s Interview and Portrait Studio at the Toronto Film Festival.
“A Jazzman’s Blues” tells the story of Bayou (Boone) and Leanne (Pfeiffer), who get caught up in the tempest of jazz, secrets, family abuse, and institutional racism. “I was 26 or 27 with great ambition and a lot of time,” Perry said. “Growing up in rural Louisiana, I know these people very well,...
Perry gathered much of his cast, including Amirah Vann, Solea Pfeiffer, Ryan Eggold, Austin Scott, Milauna Jackson, Lana Young and lead Joshua Boone to sit down with Executive Editor, Awards, Steve Pond at TheWrap and Shutterstock’s Interview and Portrait Studio at the Toronto Film Festival.
“A Jazzman’s Blues” tells the story of Bayou (Boone) and Leanne (Pfeiffer), who get caught up in the tempest of jazz, secrets, family abuse, and institutional racism. “I was 26 or 27 with great ambition and a lot of time,” Perry said. “Growing up in rural Louisiana, I know these people very well,...
- 9/12/2022
- by Jason Clark
- The Wrap
Bold, beautiful, and bittersweet, Tyler Perry's "A Jazzman's Blues" is a larger-than-life love story set during the Jim Crow era. It's an epic tale about love and loss with a strong musical component (hence the title); the core conflict is the star-crossed lovers, but the story is so grand, so encompassing, that it touches on various topics: Black culture, drug addiction, racism, identity, trauma ... the list goes on.
Tyler Perry wrote "A Jazzman's Blues" 27 years ago, and the project is obviously a very personal one. That passion shines throughout, scene by scene. The film is brimming with sentimentality, and there's an earnestness here that feels deeply sincere, if not always effective. This is an unusual project for the director, who is best known for comedies like "Madea's Family Reunion"; he has tackled more serious fare — such as "Precious," which he produced — but he's never really had what could be...
Tyler Perry wrote "A Jazzman's Blues" 27 years ago, and the project is obviously a very personal one. That passion shines throughout, scene by scene. The film is brimming with sentimentality, and there's an earnestness here that feels deeply sincere, if not always effective. This is an unusual project for the director, who is best known for comedies like "Madea's Family Reunion"; he has tackled more serious fare — such as "Precious," which he produced — but he's never really had what could be...
- 9/12/2022
- by Sarah Milner
- Slash Film
Click here to read the full article.
With A Jazzman’s Blues, Tyler Perry proves himself to be, more than anything, a reliable auteur of serviceable melodramas. The film, which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival and will stream on Netflix on September 23, is an exercise in tropes and caricatures, a game of “spot the cliché.” Nearly all the usual suspects of Black and Biblical stereotypes make an appearance here: the tragic mulatto, the mammy, the magical negro, Cain and his brother Abel. They are assembled, like pieces of a familiar puzzle, under Perry’s assured direction and utilitarian screenplay. The result is Hollywood catnip.
The comparisons to existing projects will be inevitable because A Jazzman’s Blues is an amalgamation of what already exists. There are hints of Green Book in its depictions of the South, The Notebook in the romance, Passing, any films about Black musicians trying to make it North,...
With A Jazzman’s Blues, Tyler Perry proves himself to be, more than anything, a reliable auteur of serviceable melodramas. The film, which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival and will stream on Netflix on September 23, is an exercise in tropes and caricatures, a game of “spot the cliché.” Nearly all the usual suspects of Black and Biblical stereotypes make an appearance here: the tragic mulatto, the mammy, the magical negro, Cain and his brother Abel. They are assembled, like pieces of a familiar puzzle, under Perry’s assured direction and utilitarian screenplay. The result is Hollywood catnip.
The comparisons to existing projects will be inevitable because A Jazzman’s Blues is an amalgamation of what already exists. There are hints of Green Book in its depictions of the South, The Notebook in the romance, Passing, any films about Black musicians trying to make it North,...
- 9/12/2022
- by Lovia Gyarkye
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Click here to read the full article.
Ahead of premiering his latest feature, A Jazzman’s Blues, at the Toronto International Film Festival, Tyler Perry sat down for a wide-ranging conversation about the long road to making the period drama and his hope for diversity in the entertainment industry.
“I am extremely excited for what has happened. The diversity, the choices, the opportunities,” said Perry in conversation with The Hollywood Reporter editorial director Nekesa Mumbi Moody. “But I worry because there is such a push for diversity and push for hiring people of color that I have found, in situations, that there are people [who] can be pushed into seats they are not ready for.”
Perry emphasized the need for training and mentorship in order to create sustainable diversity in Hollywood. “I don’t want to have us as Black people in seats that we weren’t ready for and then have...
Ahead of premiering his latest feature, A Jazzman’s Blues, at the Toronto International Film Festival, Tyler Perry sat down for a wide-ranging conversation about the long road to making the period drama and his hope for diversity in the entertainment industry.
“I am extremely excited for what has happened. The diversity, the choices, the opportunities,” said Perry in conversation with The Hollywood Reporter editorial director Nekesa Mumbi Moody. “But I worry because there is such a push for diversity and push for hiring people of color that I have found, in situations, that there are people [who] can be pushed into seats they are not ready for.”
Perry emphasized the need for training and mentorship in order to create sustainable diversity in Hollywood. “I don’t want to have us as Black people in seats that we weren’t ready for and then have...
- 9/11/2022
- by Mia Galuppo
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Click here to read the full article.
Tyler Perry is the type of filmmaker whose name can appear as a possessive in front of a movie’s title. There’s Tyler Perry’s Why Did I Get Married?, Tyler Perry’s Temptation and, of course, the wildly successful Madea franchise. Across two dozen features, Perry has built a directing career that leaves both studio executives and his audience knowing exactly what they’re getting into. Tyler Perry — the name and the brand — is synonymous with a certain type of movie: unabashedly commercial fare with moral messaging. As Tyler Perry the filmmaker points out during a phone conversation from his office at his eponymous Atlanta studio, A Jazzman’s Blues, his latest effort, is not that movie: “People are not expecting this kind of movie from me in any sense, but I always knew it was there.”
The film, which premieres Sept.
Tyler Perry is the type of filmmaker whose name can appear as a possessive in front of a movie’s title. There’s Tyler Perry’s Why Did I Get Married?, Tyler Perry’s Temptation and, of course, the wildly successful Madea franchise. Across two dozen features, Perry has built a directing career that leaves both studio executives and his audience knowing exactly what they’re getting into. Tyler Perry — the name and the brand — is synonymous with a certain type of movie: unabashedly commercial fare with moral messaging. As Tyler Perry the filmmaker points out during a phone conversation from his office at his eponymous Atlanta studio, A Jazzman’s Blues, his latest effort, is not that movie: “People are not expecting this kind of movie from me in any sense, but I always knew it was there.”
The film, which premieres Sept.
- 9/9/2022
- by Mia Galuppo
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Tyler Perry checking another romantic trope off the list with his take on forbidden love in his upcoming film A Jazzman’s Blues. In the trailer for his forthcoming The Notebook-esque film, the multi-hyphenate uses jazz music born in the deep South to soundtrack a tale of two star-crossed lovers, Bayou (Joshua Boone) and Leanne (Solea Pfeiffer).
Set in the 1940s, the trailer opens with the two sharing a kiss. “That was our first kiss,” says Bayou. “Ain’t nothing felt that good in all my life. You asked me not to tell nobody,...
Set in the 1940s, the trailer opens with the two sharing a kiss. “That was our first kiss,” says Bayou. “Ain’t nothing felt that good in all my life. You asked me not to tell nobody,...
- 8/23/2022
- by Larisha Paul
- Rollingstone.com
When you think about Tyler Perry films, you wouldn’t be wrong to imagine a broad comedy where the filmmaker also stars as his iconic character Madea. Those are really the films that have cemented Perry’s status as one of the biggest names in Hollywood. But every so often, he mixes things up quite a bit and will work on a feature that ditches all the silliness in favor of something more emotional and dramatic, such as in the new film, “A Jazzman’s Blues.”
Read More: ‘Lou’ Trailer: Allison Janney & Jurnee Smollett Team Up To Rescue An Abducted Child
“A Jazzman’s Blues” tells the story of star-crossed lovers, Bayou (Joshua Boone) and Leanne (Solea Pfeiffer) as they try to do whatever it takes to live a happy life together.
Continue reading ‘A Jazzman’s Blues’ Trailer: Tyler Perry Returns With A Film About Star-Crossed Lovers In The Deep South at The Playlist.
Read More: ‘Lou’ Trailer: Allison Janney & Jurnee Smollett Team Up To Rescue An Abducted Child
“A Jazzman’s Blues” tells the story of star-crossed lovers, Bayou (Joshua Boone) and Leanne (Solea Pfeiffer) as they try to do whatever it takes to live a happy life together.
Continue reading ‘A Jazzman’s Blues’ Trailer: Tyler Perry Returns With A Film About Star-Crossed Lovers In The Deep South at The Playlist.
- 8/23/2022
- by Charles Barfield
- The Playlist
Ahead of the film’s world premiere next month at TIFF, Netflix has released the first trailer for Tyler Perry’s “A Jazzman’s Blues,” the billionaire media mogul’s longtime passion project.
Written, directed and produced by Perry, the period drama tells the tale of forbidden love, starring Joshua Boone and Solea Pfeiffer as Bayou and Leanne, a star-crossed couple navigating the world as young Black people in the deep South during the 1940s and through the decades that follow.
“That was our first kiss. Ain’t nothing felt that good in all my life,” Boone’s Bayou narrates as the trailer opens on the lovers sharing a sweet smooch while sitting in a sun-soaked tree.
The dramatic scenes that follow show the trials and tribulations that test the couple’s love as their families and other outside forces try to force them apart. In spite of the odds stacked...
Written, directed and produced by Perry, the period drama tells the tale of forbidden love, starring Joshua Boone and Solea Pfeiffer as Bayou and Leanne, a star-crossed couple navigating the world as young Black people in the deep South during the 1940s and through the decades that follow.
“That was our first kiss. Ain’t nothing felt that good in all my life,” Boone’s Bayou narrates as the trailer opens on the lovers sharing a sweet smooch while sitting in a sun-soaked tree.
The dramatic scenes that follow show the trials and tribulations that test the couple’s love as their families and other outside forces try to force them apart. In spite of the odds stacked...
- 8/23/2022
- by Angelique Jackson
- Variety Film + TV
I sat in the green room waiting for actor and director Tyler Perry to arrive backstage at the Martha’s Vineyard Performing Arts Center for the Colors of Conversation event during the Martha’s Vineyard African-American Film Festival. Before he hit the stage for the panel, there was only a short window to interview him about his new project, A Jazzman’s Blues, a script he had written in the 1990s.
Many know him from the Medea movies, which some think has limited his cinematic scope in terms of what he can do, but Perry is out to prove the naysayers wrong. “Filming this was very much like, ‘I know something you don’t know,” he said. “For my whole career, people would say that Madea is all I can do. Now, 26 years later, I have The Jazzman’s Blues.”
It’s an idea that he couldn’t shake. Imagine...
Many know him from the Medea movies, which some think has limited his cinematic scope in terms of what he can do, but Perry is out to prove the naysayers wrong. “Filming this was very much like, ‘I know something you don’t know,” he said. “For my whole career, people would say that Madea is all I can do. Now, 26 years later, I have The Jazzman’s Blues.”
It’s an idea that he couldn’t shake. Imagine...
- 8/7/2022
- by Valerie Complex
- Deadline Film + TV
Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.
The Before Trilogy (Richard Linklater)
Earning its status amongst the likes of Three Colors, Apu, Human Condition, Antonioni’s ’Decadence’ trilogy, and Kiarostami’s Koker trilogy, Richard Linklater, Julie Delpy, and Ethan Hawke’s exploration of romance both fledgling and tested is one of the great film trilogies of all time. Though there’s Before Movie, Says Julie Delpy”>no plans for a fourth film in sight, one can enjoy all three films, now available to stream on The Criterion
Where to Stream: The Criterion Channel
Blue Bayou (Justin Chon)
After Antonio (Justin Chon) is wrongfully arrested in front of his wife Kathy (Alicia Vikander) and step-daughter Jessie (Sydney Kowalske), he’s surprised to learn he’s been flagged for deportation. Due...
The Before Trilogy (Richard Linklater)
Earning its status amongst the likes of Three Colors, Apu, Human Condition, Antonioni’s ’Decadence’ trilogy, and Kiarostami’s Koker trilogy, Richard Linklater, Julie Delpy, and Ethan Hawke’s exploration of romance both fledgling and tested is one of the great film trilogies of all time. Though there’s Before Movie, Says Julie Delpy”>no plans for a fourth film in sight, one can enjoy all three films, now available to stream on The Criterion
Where to Stream: The Criterion Channel
Blue Bayou (Justin Chon)
After Antonio (Justin Chon) is wrongfully arrested in front of his wife Kathy (Alicia Vikander) and step-daughter Jessie (Sydney Kowalske), he’s surprised to learn he’s been flagged for deportation. Due...
- 7/1/2022
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
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