Let's Get Lost

Chet Baker became the face of West Coast jazz in the 1950s: beautiful, young, and known as much for his singing as his trumpet. Then came heroin. For thirty years he moved between prison, deportation, lost teeth and no work. This documentary sets two Chet Bakers side by side: the recordings of the 1950s and the face of the late 1980s. Bruce Weber's film is built less as a musician's portrait than around a face; Weber is a photographer and uses the camera accordingly. Baker lies or fails to remember constantly while talking, and the film does not correct him. The interviews with his children, ex-wives and lovers do not agree with each other either. Baker died in Amsterdam in May 1988, a few months before the film's release. It won the critics' prize at Venice and was nominated for the best documentary Oscar. Who it's for: Viewers who like jazz history, musician portraits, and black-and-white documentary. Who it's not for: The film is too soft on what Baker did, and the damage he caused those around him stays in the background. The structure is also loose.