Thelonious Monk - Straight No Chaser
by Davis Guggenheim
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DVD Cover Information
Director: Davis GuggenheimBrand: Warner
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); Portuguese (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
Format: Color, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 90 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2001-01-30
Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Warner Home Video
Movie Reviews of Thelonious Monk - Straight No Chaser
Movie Review: Portrait of an Artist
Summary: 5 Stars
I don't think the filmmakers who shot this footage set out to make this film. I think they set out to make another film, but they made this one for better or worse. Thelonious Monk's "eccentricities" were well known to his fans, but this film shows more than just eccentric behavior.
In the vein of eccentric behavior, a friend of mine told me about seeing Thelonious Monk live at Shelly's Manne Hole in Hollywood back in the late 1960's. It was a rare appearance for Monk in L.A. and it was not long afterward that the Manne Hole closed, as I recall. He said that Thelonious stopped playing in the middle of the set and got up from the piano and began to spin around in a slow circles like a dervish. My friend showed me how Monk did it.
My friend said he was disappointed. He didn't pay to see Monk dance; he wanted to hear him play piano. But I didn't give it too much thought at the time. It seemed harmless, eccentric.
About fifteen years ago, I first saw "Straight, No Chaser." It was a shock to see Monk doing what my friend described so long before. It looked much more ominous than his description. There was one shot of him where he was spinning around and his eyes momentarily went dull for half a second as if he had a mild stroke or seizure. Even more shocking was how poorly Monk was functioning at times as he appeared in this movie. Although I'm not a physician, the word "brain tumor" just leapt into my mind. That he died of a cerebral hemorrhage confirms my guess. It was so shocking that I think I missed most of the film
I recently saw this film again. The commentary by Monk's son was most poignant in describing his own childhood, coping with Monk's strange behavior and hospitalizations. It didn't sound to me as if anyone really understood what was wrong with Monk at the time.
Rethinking this film's significance: what Monk accomplished --- impressive as it was --- is even more impressive when you think that while he was writing and performing, in the background, was this thing destroying him inside his own head. He was struggling and straining to keep going against odds that were gradually slipping away from him. Every day, life got just a little harder for him. The effort eventually overcame him. No wonder he stopped playing.
Monk was lucky in leaving his unique music as his legacy under these circumstances. He was also lucky in having married Nellie. She was a great woman who clearly kept him going and loved him and took care of him. We were lucky that he married Nellie as well for those same reasons.
The music choices were well placed and add to the bittersweet quality of this video portrait. There was always the playful quality of Monk's music, in a way reminiscent of Erik Satie, but deeply rooted in the blues.
The film does have a few comic moments. The business where they had shipped a trunk full of empty Coke bottles halfway around the world in order to return them for deposit, struck me as hilarious. I guess you had to grow up in an earlier era for that one. Also, the "Copenhagen pants" and the "chicken livers" scenes were pretty funny.
The exact medical facts will probably never be known. But this is a story of a great artist---and may I add, a good man---who suffered a terrible and tragic fate.
Summary of Thelonious Monk - Straight No Chaser
Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 05/23/2006 Run time: 90 minutes Rating: Pg13Similar DVD Movies
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