Sad Real-Life Story of a Jazz Pianist, Joe Albany, from the Book Authored by His Daughter, Amy Jo Albany (A. J. Albany) The Title of the Book Published in 2003 is... "Low Down: junk, jazz, and other fairy tales from childhood"...a memoir.
The Film Directed by First Timer, Jeff Preis, uses a Low-Budget with some Stunning Verisimilitude to Capture the Ambiance of the Seventies Stripped Down World of the "Low Down" Heroin-Addicted "Existence" of Desperate Souls Searching for Their Next Fix. Their Surroundings are Barely Recognizable to Anyone Outside the Orbit of the Mal-Adjusted.
The Performances by John Hawkes (Joe Albany), Elle Fanning (Mary Jo Albany), Glen Close (Grandmother), are Superb. Also Lena Heady as Joe's Wife and Mary Jo's Desperately Alcoholic Mother is Equally Near Perfect.
The Soundtrack is Fittingly Fine Featuring Joe's Music with some of Albany's Contemporaneous Peers.
The Bummer here is the Heart-Wrenching Personal Story of Joe and Mary Jo's Struggles and the Love They Carry and Care so Deeply. That Love Centers the Film and is the Redeeming Quality in a Personal Tale with so much Suffering that makes the Slice of Real-Life in a Two-Year Period of a Life-Long Battle Against All Odds so Relentlessly "Low Down".
A Noble, if Feeble Attempt to Capture it all and make it Cautionary Cinema. But One must be Cautioned that it is Not an Easy Watch and is a Depressing Look where some Folks will No Doubt See more than They can Easily Comprehend or Tolerate.
