An ethereal love letter to jazz like no other
Blue Giant captures the chaotic beauty of jazz with an infectious zeal, and the profound connections it fosters among those who play and those who listen, in a synaesthetic, animation experience
Adecade ago, J.K. Simmons drove Miles Teller to the brink of musical transcendence in the climactic nal sequence of Damien Chazelle’s Oscar-winning debut feature. Where Whiplash reignited a cultural ©ame for jazz, Blue Giant’s explosive ode to the genre, cues itself in rediscovering the allure of jazz’s rebellious, soul-stirring spirit of a genre in decline.
Directed by Yuzuru Tachikawa, Blue Giant adapts Shinichi Ishizuka’s eponymous manga into a visually and aurally-arresting experience. The lm’s exhilarating animation and irresistible jazz score by the extraordinary Hiromi Uehara weaves a tale of dreams, music, and human connection.
The protagonist, Dai Miyamoto (voiced by Yuki Yamada), leaves his hometown, saxophone in tow, with a burning passion for jazz and a dream to become one of the greats. In Tokyo, he encounters Yukinori Sawabe (Shôtarô Mamiya), a talented yet cynical pianist who is disillusioned by the waning interest in jazz.
Blue Giant excels in portraying the transformative power of music. For Dai, jazz is a spiritual experience, a conduit to euphoria. Yukinori, on the other hand, grapples with his fear of improvisation and his desire for perfection, re©ecting a deeper internal struggle.
Blue Giant oers a sensory experience that is nothing short of rhapsodic, delivering a spectacle of symphony that would give the Spider-Verse a run for its money. The 3D animation, capturing the ©uid movements of the musicians, interweaves seamlessly with hand-drawn elements in a synaesthetic experience. These scenes are not mere accompaniments to the music but rather extensions of it, with the animation bending and warping to re©ect how jazz pivots on spontaneity, creating a tête-à-tête between sight and sound that is breathtaking.
Yet, Blue Giant is not without its quieter, more intimate moments. The lm doesn’t forget to narrow down on the personal struggles and aspirations of its characters, grounding their larger-than-life musical ambitions with an aspiring musician’s most formidable hurdle: making a living.
Jazz a cionados will appreciate the lm’s homage to the genre’s rich legacy, particularly the in©uence of legends like John Coltrane, Charlie Parker and Miles Davis. The title itself is a clever amalgamation of Coltrane’s seminal albums Blue Train and Giant Steps.
Blue Giant is currently running in theatres.