Blue Like Jazz (2012)

Don, a nineteen-year-old sophomore at a Texas junior college, tries to escape his Bible Belt upbringing for life in the Pacific Northwest at the most godless campus in America.

Director:

Steve Taylor

Writers:

Donald Miller (screenplay), Donald Miller (story)

Stars:

Marshall Allman, Claire Holt, Tania Raymonde

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Marshall Allman	...	Don Miller
Claire Holt	...	Penny
Tania Raymonde	...	Lauryn
Justin Welborn	...	The Pope
Eric Lange	...	The Hobo
Jason Marsden	...	Kenny
William McKinney	...	Jordan (as Will McKinney)
Jenny Littleton	...	Don's Mom
David Alford	...	Priest
Jeff Obafemi Carr	...	Dean Bowers (as jeff obafemi carr)
Matt Godfrey	...	Yuri
Jeffrey Buckner Ford	...	James Larkin (as Jeffery Buckner Ford)
Traber Burns	...	Phillipe Nouvel
Barak Hardley	...	Town Crier
Jenson Goins	...	Quinn

Storyline

Disenchanted by the church and his devout Christian mother, 19 year-old Donald escapes Texas for the liberal Northwest and attends Reed College at the urging of his secular father. At Reed College, Don finds that his classmates, from all walks of life, are more anti-religious and anti-everything than he was prepared for. In an attempt to fit in, and more importantly, in an attempt to find himself, Don joins an activist group which forces him to question what he really believes in.

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Plot Keywords:

college | texas | church | screenplay adapted by author | color in title | 

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Taglines:

Everybody belongs somewhere.

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for mature thematic material, sexuality, drug and alcohol content, and some language

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

13 March 2012 (USA)

Also Known As:

Kék, mint a jazz

Filming Locations:

Portland, Oregon, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$1,200,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$258,653, 15 April 2012, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$594,904, 3 June 2012

Company Credits

Production Co:

Ruckus Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

108 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The movie was made possible by the efforts of fans the refused to see the project die. A campaign on KickStarter was started after a September 16th blog post by Donald Miller that the project was dead due to the lack of backers. By the end of the funding period on October 25th, Save Blue Like Jazz had raised $345,992 (of the $125,000 goal or 276%) from 4495 backers. The earns the project a Hall of Fame ranking on KickStarter as the highest funded project ever.

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Goofs

Don tells his mother that there are no roommates in the dorms at Reed college, but Lauryn tells a story about her "first year roommate".

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Quotes

Donald Miller: Sometimes you have to watch somebody love something, before you can love it yourself.

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Crazy Credits

The names of over 1,500 people were listed as Associate Producers of the movie.

User Reviews

FINALLY. A "Christian movie" that doesn't suck.

When I heard Donald Miller's book was being made into a movie, I was half elated, half skeptical. While the book-- that sold over 1.2 Million Copies-- is one of my favorites, it doesn't really lend itself well to a movie screenplay.

Or so I thought.

The movie follows a young kid named Don as he grows up in a Southern Baptist church in Texas, the only child of a uber-religious single mother and absentee deadbeat dad he refers to as "the hobo." Don is about to graduate from High School and is headed to Bible College. He's then faced with a situation that shakes him to his core. He ends up at Reed College, a liberal college in Oregon. The stories that follow show us the author's real struggles with faith and how he comes to grips with his own spirituality aside from the oppressive, rigid religious home he was raised in.

In addition to the screenplay, the director of photography does an impeccable job bringing the characters to life. The characters in the book, though not completely identical to the ones in the movie, become so personally vulnerable and familiar through equal parts can't-look-away awkwardness and close, tight, clean camera work that by the end of the film I found myself angry at myself for not interpreting the characters in the book more accurately even though they were in fact the real people.

BLJ is a movie that is desperately needed in the Christian art scene. The stunning dialog surrounding the film and the idiotic, egocentric way it has been received by many evangelical groups and churches clearly illustrate how needed films like this are. It earns its PG13 ranking in earnest, and there's no Kirk Cameron anywhere to be found. People talk about loving Jesus while drinking a beer, and not everyone who professes to follow Christ walks about with a pious attitude praying out loud and thumbing their Bibles incessantly. They make mistakes, hurt each other, and even cuss! In other words, it's real.

Kudos to Miller, Taylor and company. BLJ has, if nothing else, made in-roads for other non-craptastic movies with a Christ-centered message.

Thank you, God.