I made the drive to Indy last week to catch opening night with a friend. Which, as it turns out, was well worth the ticket price, let alone the cost of gas to get there and back. The short of it is, I highly recommend BLJ.... sort of. In other words, that would be two reserved thumbs ecstatically up. What?
The movie was everything I'd hoped for. I was actually a bit nervous when it started because I've spent the last three years hyping myself up over this thing. When the opening credits started rolling a veil came off and I finally realized what I had done. For better or worse, I had very high expectations, and the feeling no movie could meet them. I was dead wrong.
Blue Like Jazz was honest, thoughtful, creatively portrayed, and for any genre of movie (let alone an indie film, or even worse a Christian film) had fantastic acting. To be honest one or two of the scenes were slightly forced, but even those were probably only noticeable because my radar for such things was operating at full power. By movie's end, my friend and I had to just sit there and think for a while. We were talking about it for several hours afterward.
The basic plot revolves around a Baptist kid from Texas who skips town when he finds his mother is having an affair with a youth pastor. The fictional Don Miller ends up on the campus of Reed college in Portland (which is self described as the most godless place in America). Don, on the advice of his first friend at Reed, a lesbian, ditches his faith in favor of a better fitting cynicism about everything religious. At one point he even pulls a prank with one of his classmates, putting a giant condom on a steeple of a local church.
As far as the point of the story? It's hard saying. It said a lot, but not in a heavy handed way. It was a lot more like a poem; you read it thirty times and get different angles with each reading, depending on where you're at that day. If you're expecting a "Christian" movie with a clearly stated moral at the end, this one isn't for you. It seems like Steve Taylor and Donald Miller have more faith in their audiences intelligence than to spoon feed them the message. If you see the movie, a gang of meaning will probably jump you in an alley on your way hope.
I thought the movie was fantastic. Five stars. Two thumbs up. But I'm hesitant about recommending it to everyone.
The movie isn't polite. It's trying to accurately represent life on the most godless college campus in America, and from what I heard even BLJ pulled punches to get underneath an R rating (which it only missed by a half syllable). There is plenty of swearing, flamboyant men in diapers making a marching band, and plenty of innuendo. At one point the youth pastor of the church looks over at his wife who is playing music that morning and says in an obviously naive tone, "alright honey, tickle that organ."
If you're looking for something like Sherwood Baptist church is putting out these days (Fireproof, Courageous, etc.)" then this probably isn't the film for you. But if you're looking for something forcing you to examine your faith, and make you recognize your oddities and laugh at them, all while telling a great story with superb acting, then by all means find the closest theater and make the drive. It was definitely worth the 6 hour round trip.
P.S. The distribution company for Blue Like Jazz (they also recently released Margin Call), at a screening of the film, noted that the audience was young, intelligent, and had thoughtful questions, but they weren't sure there was a broader audience amongst Christian's for such a film. Prove them wrong and make the drive.
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