Blue Like Jazz

On Saturday, I went with a few friends from my church to a viewing of Blue Like Jazz in Columbus. I’ve been dying to see it since I first heard it was being made a year or so ago. I read the book in college at the recommendation of some upperclassmen and absolutely loved Donald Miller’s candor and laid-back but eloquent writing style. His books along with the works of Anne Lamott are part of what inspired me to spend my senior year working on a project about writing creative non-fiction.
   
Anyway, I’ve been following the movie production via Don’s blog and Twitter, and have been excited to see how a memoir comprised of short essays could turn into a feature film. I had a hard time explaining the gist of the movie to the friends I went with – who had not read the book – even after watching the trailer. So we took the trek from Mansfield to Columbus to a theater where it was playing.
   
There were only about a dozen other people in the theater (not the entire cinema, just the one where Blue Like Jazz was being shown) which was kind of nice and sad at the same time. I was a bit worried that my friend’s wouldn’t like it, but the film turned out to be very good. I really enjoyed their choices in the adaptation – like Don’s mother’s affair, his friend being a lesbian, and other changes – and thought it told the story well. In my opinion, it showed a much closer to real-life view of what Christians deal with in world than the majority of Christian films. I have often found that movies paint a rose-colored version of life and I really enjoyed that the film included drinking, partying, cursing, the whole nine yards. It didn’t shy away from things just because it’s a “Christian” film.
   
I looked up some reviews and it seems like most people felt that the movie was too lukewarm and not hot or cold enough to make anyone happy. A cursory reading of a review from the New York Post shows that secular viewers found the film nice but dodging real questions of faith by pretending to be realistic. On the other end of the spectrum, Christianity Today said the movie was a “quirky and genuinely funny indie” but didn’t talk enough about Jesus and salvation and that the ending was somewhat unsatisfying.
   
Which, if you paid attention to the film, was the point. The title comes from Don’s realization that life, like jazz, doesn’t resolve cleanly – and that’s what makes jazz wonderful. So it makes sense that the movie doesn’t have a nicely-packaged ending. And in response to the New York Post, the point of the film wasn’t to answer all of religion’s questions, but to show Christians (and non-Christians) that life doesn’t become perfect because of faith. I thought it was excellent, enjoyable, and would definitely watch it again.