The music biopic genre is filled with dozens of movies that look and feel the same, which is a shame considering the profound differences in identity that most musicians have. Köln 75 is an invigorating change of pace — a quick-witted, specific film about the music industry that, while not necessarily substantial, has more than enough energy to compensate for having less substance.
What is Köln 75 about?
Köln 75 tells the story of jazz musician Keith Jarrett’s legendary improvised concert and the young promoter, Vera Brandes, who overcame tremendous obstacles to make the concert happen. Although the film will certainly be more compelling to those who are interested in the inner workings of the music business, its stakes are entirely convincing, especially for something comparatively quaint.
Köln 75 Review
Filmmaker Ido Fluk does a great job of immersing the audience in this very specific moment in music history by using meta elements. That’s not to say that taking a meta, fourth-wall-breaking approach to the music biography genre is entirely novel — Michael Winterbottom’s 24 Hour Party People is another obvious example, and seemingly an influence for Fluk’s structure in Köln 75 — but it’s at least different from the dozen other movies about musicians you will see this year.
On a technical level, Köln 75 does a great job of capturing the chaotic kinetic energy of a jazz piece like the ones Jarrett created. The cinematography, editing, and score are all very fast-paced, lending the movie an incredible momentum that allows the nearly two-hour runtime to absolutely breeze by. It’s also not the type of film that gets so caught up in minute details of period accuracy that it starts to feel incredibly artificial; Fluk clearly wants to capture the spirit of what Jarrett stood for.
However, for all this structural ingenuity, Köln 75 is about as insightful as those more conventional biopics. Fluk has the advantage of the fact that this story is one that most audiences probably aren’t familiar with, which, combined with the fast pacing, keeps the movie from ever feeling predictable.
Jarrett is played by John Magaro (Past Lives), who gives a performance that is just as nuanced as any that he’s given. It’s not your typical impression-esque biopic performance; instead, Magaro is interested in humanizing the artist by exploring his more misunderstood aspects of his personality and identity. The other face audiences might recognize is Michael Chernus (Severance), who plays a music journalist that becomes the film’s narrator and is very charming in the role.
However, even though Magaro and Chernus lend their star power to Köln 75, the scene-stealer in the movie is German actress Mala Emde. As a young music promoter, Emde channels the same star-making energy that Steve Coogan brought to his international breakout in 24 Hour Party People. The fact that she commands the spotlight in a film about one of the most idiosyncratic jazz artists of all time is an incredible feat in and of itself.
Still, audiences will walk away from the movie knowing little more about Keith Jarrett. Fluk clearly admires Jarrett for his artistic genius, and does a good job of bringing a mythic figure down to earth, but the purposeful use of an unreliable narrator keeps the audience from really knowing if what we’re hearing about is true. Brandes fares much better as a character, but her disappearance from a significant chunk of the film detracts from her arc.
Is Köln 75 worth watching?
Like any good jazz composition, Köln 75 is more than the sum of its parts. It’s a little chaotic and throws a bit too much at the wall, but the pieces come together serendipitously to create a uniquely artistic experience. It’s always nice to see a movie in a typically conventional genre subvert the tropes, and in the case of Köln 75, it results in one of the more interesting music biopics in recent memory.
Köln 75 opens in theaters on October 17.
