Born to Be Blue & Miles Ahead

An experiment. I switched the names.

My version:

Baker, of course, was the virtuosic icon tormented by society, his industry’s production complex and his own artistic compass; Davis by contrast was the beneficiary of those forces.

I think the description of Miles Davis is almost equally true for Chet Baker.

Miles Davis had trouble hailing a taxicab and some of the description of Chet Baker doesn't apply to him, but he arguably was also the "devotee of simple and romantic tones" in some of his recordings.

An experiment. I switched the names.

My version:

Baker, of course, was the virtuosic icon tormented by society, his industry’s production complex and his own artistic compass; Davis by contrast was the beneficiary of those forces.

I think the description of Miles Davis is almost equally true for Chet Baker.

Miles Davis had trouble hailing a taxicab and some of the description of Chet Baker doesn't apply to him, but he arguably was also the "devotee of simple and romantic tones" in some of his recordings.

I watched Born to be Blue last night, and Miles Ahead the night before. Both Cheadle and Hawke were great in their parts, but the films...less than, far less than great.

I compared Ethan Hawke's portrayal to the rarely seen, excellent biographical film Let's Get Lost, in which the real Chet appears and gets extensively interviewed. Ethan does all right.

Somebody used the very nebulous term "re-imagining" about both films. This only means that both stories were entirely fictitious. They were both worth watching, but look for them in your local remainder bin.