Low Down

Name: Low Down
Genre: Biography, Drama, Music, Family
Released: October 24, 2014
Duration: 114 min
Rating: 58
Cast: Elle Fanning, Glenn Close, John Hawkes, Peter Dinklage

2014

METASCORE

Mixed or average reviews based on 21 Critics

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 6 Ratings

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7.0	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 6 Ratings

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Low Down

Movie Details & Credits

Oscilloscope Pictures | Release Date: October 24, 2014

Starring: Elle Fanning, Glenn Close, John Hawkes, Peter Dinklage

Summary: A look at the life of pianist Joe Albany (John Hawkes) from the perspective of his young daughter, Amy (Elle Fanning), as she watches him contend with his drug addiction during the 1960s and '70s jazz scene.

Director: Jeff Preiss

Genre(s): Biography, Drama, Music, Family

Rating: R

Runtime: 114 min

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Critic Reviews

100

Los Angeles Times - Kenneth Turan

Oct 30, 2014

Low Down is one from the heart. It's a melancholy, evocative, beautifully made memory piece, unblinking and unromanticized, a lovely film that brings great emotion and a dead-on feeling for time, place and recaptured mood to a story that is as universal as it is personal. Read full review

RogerEbert.com - Matt Zoller Seitz

Oct 24, 2014

A very good jazz movie and a very good heroin movie, if indeed there's much practical difference between the two modes—and perhaps there isn't. Read full review

Austin Chronicle - Josh Kupecki

Nov 12, 2014

Low Down is a wonderful downer of a film that fits quite comfortably on the video-store shelf between "Barfly" and "Drugstore Cowboy." That said, depending on your proclivity for plunging into the cinematic depths of despair, your mileage may vary. Read full review

Variety - Scott Foundas

Jan 27, 2014

It’s a familiar story of music-world success, failure and addiction, admirably but unevenly told by first-time feature director Jeff Preiss, who certainly knows the music and the milieu, but proves less adept at shaping the material into a consistently compelling narrative. Read full review

Washington Post - Stephanie Merry

Nov 6, 2014

It’s appropriately melancholy, and yet there’s a sense that the movie only scratches the surface. Read full review

Observer - Rex Reed

Oct 22, 2014

A well-meaning but desultory descent into darkness based on a memoir of the same name by Amy-Jo Albany, daughter of Joe Albany, the great jazz pianist who died in 1988 at age 63. The book, published in 2003, was subtitled Junk, Jazz and Other Fairy Tales From Childhood, and that just about covers it. Read full review

The Playlist - Rodrigo Perez

Jan 27, 2014

The film plays nary a note of reprieve and the dank aesthetic does nothing to help the mood. “Low Down” is unequivocally a downer. Read full review

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User Reviews

Lyn

Jul 8, 2015

John Hawkins, Glenn Close, and even Lena Hedey & Peter Dinklage (in smaller parts) are really good in their gritty, melancholy roles. Oddly though, this movie about a jazz pianist does not have enough music in it to give you a well-rounded picture of the lead character. I mean, he's notJohn Hawkins, Glenn Close, and even Lena Hedey & Peter Dinklage (in smaller parts) are really good in their gritty, melancholy roles. Oddly though, this movie about a jazz pianist does not have enough music in it to give you a well-rounded picture of the lead character. I mean, he's not Thelonius Monk or Duke Ellington: I wanted to get more of a feel for the quality of his music. Instead, I (wearily) got a feel for yet another hopeless heroin addict. Elle Fanning was OK, but I couldn't stop feeling that she was channeling a grimmer version of Mariel Hemingway in "Manhattan."… Expand

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