Blue Giant

I very nearly didn't make the 30-mile schlep to my local Cineworld to watch this film but I'm really glad I did. It's not about a whale, no. It's about the aspirational saxophonist "Dai" who heads to Tokyo with dreams of taking over the world. He arrives, unannounced, on the doorstep of his friend "Tamada" looking for a bed for a few days. Needless to say, that few days turns out to be a bit longer and their friendship starts to strain a bit (the visitor snores!). "Dai" visits a small bar and meets the jazz-loving owner "Akiko" who sends him to a live venue where he encounters the pianist "Sawabe" whom he tries to convince to form a band. They are both eighteen but the latter man has been playing for about fourteen years longer than his new friend, so is a little sceptical! That doesn't last long once he hears him play and they soon decide they need a drummer to keep both from straying into the uncontrollable territory that can be improv jazz! Well, it turns out that his "landlord" isn't half bad at beating time with a stick on a Coke can - but can he up his game and turn this duo into a trio good enough to play at the city's most prestigious club - "So Blue"? The story itself is a bit predicable, with a few temper tantrums, frustrations and fallings out but it does illustrate well just how athletic these musicians must be to perform. Hands are covered in calluses and bruises, the sax takes quite a toll on the breathing and at times it's touch and go as to whether they can make it out of the starting block. There's nothing easy about the task they have set themselves nor the dedication and sacrifices it will take to achieve (or not) their goal. The animation itself it a little hit and miss, the CGI works much less well that the hand drawn scenes, but what really works here is the synchronisation with the musicians and that can be really immersive at times. If you are a fan of this genre of music, then you are in for a treat of Coltrane, Stitt et al. The saxophone (Tomoaki Baba), piano (Hiromi Uehara) and drums (Shun Ishiwaka) are unafraid to start off timidly and (especially the drummer) very rough around the edges, but as the story develops and they improve and become more confident, so do their performances until a tragedy tinged denouement that really does get the toes tapping. I'd have to say - there is no point in watching this is if this style of rambling, meandering and frankly rather musically self-indulgent performance doesn't appeal to you, but the powerful mix of frenetically syncopated animation and music I found really quite compelling. Sure, it's a bit long - but it's well worth a watch.

This is a film to see for the music.

The film is scored by the amazing jazz pianist and composer Hiromi Uehara, and every musical sequence is wonderful. The animation is also striking, from hyper-realistic depictions of Tokyo to imaginative representations of the musicians' inner worlds as they explore the space of chords and sequences of jazz improvisation.

On the other hand, the story is trite and predictable, and the characters are absurdly histrionic (as is typical in conventional animé). It also seems more a bit inappropriate that there's only one significant female character in a film so dependent on the musical ability of a woman performer and composer.

It's more than 'five-star-movie'. It is one of a kind and best music animation ever. The passion and emotion of this movie makes my heart beat. It is the first time that such an emotion has been felt since Slam Dunk. Japanese animation seems to be upgrading its value by expanding its scope to the art world. If you look at the original work, you can know the past of the main character, Dai, so please refer to it. In particular, the fact that Hiromi of the Grammy Award-winning jazz list participated in both music director and piano performance makes my heart race. I am serious about jazz enough to make up a quarter of the movie with music alone.

This film is amazing from start to finish, and it only gets better.

Not only is the story great, but the music, animation, and sound are all top-tier. I love when films show how sound looks, which this film does several times in very creative ways.

Yes, the CGI on the characters may look a little out of place, but I think they chose that approach to best show how the characters are playing the instruments. You can see all the details and movements that go into such an art.

The music in this is absolutely mind-changing, and you'll leave feeling inspired-not just musically. I really can't describe the music in words, so go listen and see it for yourself.

9.2/10 absolutely recommend this for any musician.

I absolutely loved this movie. The music was catchy and fun to listen to. The animation was stunning. Even when the animation was less detailed, it was still easy on the eyes and not distracting. The only animation feature I didn't like was the drumming techniques. The stick grips were a bit off, with the drummer holding them in a fist instead of a more refined grip. Other than this, the movie was wonderfully pleasing to my eyes and ears. I especially liked the group's final performance of the movie, since it showed growth for all the characters, allowing them to prove that they'd adapted and worked hard to become better musicians.