Mo' Better Blues Movie Review 1990

Not one of his more cohesive or compelling works, Lee's fourth feature is on the surface a backstage jazz biopic. But all Lee features are vitally concerned with complicated racial issues, and though subtle, this is no exception. Bleek Gilliam is a handsome, accomplished jazz trumpeter who divides his limited extra-curricular time between Clarke (newcomer Williams) and Indigo (junior Lee sibling Joie). What's interesting is not so much the story of self-interested musician and ladies' man Gilliam, but the subtle racial issues his life draws into focus. The Branford Marsalis Quartet provides the music for Bleek's group, scored by Lee's dad Bill (on whose life the script is loosely based).

Distribution

Facets Multimedia, Inc., 1517 W. Fullerton Ave., Chicago, IL 60614, Phone: (773)281-9075, Toll-free: 800-331-6197, Fax: (773)929-5437, Email: sales@facets.org, URL: http://www.facets.org

Available on VHS, DVD
Running time 129 minutes.

Cast and Crew

Genres

Jazz & Blues, Biopics: Musicians, Sex & Sexuality, Romantic Triangles, Struggling Musicians, New Black Cinema, New York, New York, African America, Director/Star Teams: Lee & Washington, Jazz & Blues

Screenplay

Spike Lee

Cast

Denzel Washington, Spike Lee, Joie Lee, Wesley Snipes, Cynda Williams, Giancarlo Esposito, Robin Harris, Bill Nunn, John Turturro, Dick Anthony Williams, Ruben Blades, Nicholas Turturro, Samuel L. Jackson, Abbey Lincoln, Tracy C. Johns, Joe Seneca

Cinematography

Ernest R. Dickerson

Director

Spike Lee

Music

Bill Lee, Branford Marsalis

Other

Sam Pollard

Producer

40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks, Universal Pictures