Musicians
are like athletes. An injury can
potentially end a brilliant career. Like
Evan Horne, the protagonist of Bill Moody’s jazz mysteries, Jonathan Clay is a
pianist struggling with injured hands, who suddenly finds himself involved with
the criminal element in Oded Naaman’s When
Sunny Gets Blue (trailer
here), which
screens in New York as part of the 2013 Columbia University Film Festival, an
annual showcase for Columbia MFA students’ thesis films and screenplays.
Clay
is not a good patient. Suffering from
acute carpal tunnel syndrome, he is frustrated by the slow rehabilitation
process. In fact, he has given up on
physical therapy. When he returns from a session of self-pitying and boozing,
he is surprised to find a woman in his apartment. She is there to warn him about the thugs who
show up shortly thereafter.
Yes,
her name is Sunny, as in the title Jack Segal & Martin Fisher standard that
seems to have great meaning for Clay. It
is a good one, recorded by the likes of Dexter Gordon, Sarah Vaughan, and Nat
King Cole, but it is not exactly overplayed and fits the vibe of Naaman’s film
quite well. (The credits inspired by
Blue Note Records graphic designer Reid Miles are also a nice touch.)
Indeed,
Sunny has a hip sensibility that
should please jazz fans. In a strange
way it manages to be both ambiguous and completely satisfying. Naaman deftly establishes a distinctive mood
that is too light-hearted to be called noir, but too dark to be considered
anything else. It certainly fits the jazz
life, as does Jonathan Monro’s standout performance. He gets a convincing case of the blues, yet remains
sincere and grounded, even when doing some odd things. As someone who knows a lot of musicians, his
performance always feels right to me.
