Köln 75
Writer/director Ido Fluk tackles the life of teenage concert organizer Vera Brandes (Mala Emde) and the Köln Concert, recorded in the West German Opera House which would become both the best-selling Jazz solo album and the best-selling piano album ever recorded. Breaking out of her stifling family dynamic, Brandes started booking clubs and concerts for Jazz musicians at the age of 15 and three years later, despite a number of obstacles, delivered Keith Jarrett (John Magaro) on stage to perform what is regarded as a seminal moment in music history.
The film covers how Brandes fell into the career and quickly made the best of opportunities granted to her, betting on herself at every stage despite the disapproval of her parents (Ulrich Tukur and Jördis Triebel). We also get the story of Jarrett's journey to Cologne along with his producer (Alexander Scheer) growing more and more weary after a series of concerts made up solely of his improvisational Jazz creating a different experience each night.
Tying the two parts of the film together is Michael Chernus as an American reporter working as a narrator to the film, at times breaking the fourth wall to explain characters, circumstances, and concepts to the audience (the best of these explaining the idea behind improvisational Jazz), and at other times interacting with Jarrett directly while trying to understand his process.
The film overcomes minor issues (such as Mala Emde being obviously slightly too old for the role, despite a strong performance) with the same force of will we can see Brandes producing to drag the concert into reality. Filled with great music, costumes, and cinematography recreating the early 1970s, Köln 75 is a delightful film that plays on themes of young independence and teenage rebellion, a love of Jazz and respect for its musicians, an underdog making their own luck, and a young woman breaking glass ceilings while shattering expectations. Quirky and cheeky, but also quite reverential to the people and events it celebrates, Köln 75 is the kind of feel-good story I could see myself coming back to over and over again.
- Title: Köln 75
- IMDb: link
