Hairdryers in Bloomsbury

Lets Get Lost (dir. Bruce Weber) 1988

Amazing documentary by fashion photographer Bruce Weber about the life of jazz musician Chet Baker. Beautifully filmed in grainy black white with brilliant montages of photo's and clips of past performances. This is an immensely sad but strangely uplifting portrait one of modern musics lost genius's. Lost to himself at the end and lost to the string of wives, lovers and children that were left in the wake of his destructive drift. In one scene of Baker playing in the eighties, a close up of his face reveals the time warn crevices and distant black pin pricks of his eyes in poignant detail. Bakers physical beauty and obvious charm belie a selfish nihilism that claimed the hearts of many women . The principal ones are interviewed by Weber and each have their own take on the truth about the myth of Chet. In particular his account of how he lost his teeth after taking a beating in 1968. Conspicuous by her absence in the film is Halema Alli, Chet's second wife whom he married in 1956. This beautiful enigmatic looking woman does not appear in the film, nor does the son she had with Baker but her presence looms large and it is obvious the Baker has a great affection for her still.
As the film wears on the soporific woozy reflections of Baker blend with the fragile horn sound that blows in and out of the frame you can become lost in a kind of twilight revere . Images of the Californian surf and palm trees create a nostalgia for something never known to most people.
The final scene with Baker is particularly moving, as is the knowledge that it was only shortly after the making of this film that his life came abruptly and tragically to its' end.