Robert Drew - 1974
Brian Herron
On the road with Duke Ellington is an hour long documentary filmed in the year of 1967 when Duke Ellington, one of jazz musics most famous composers and musicians, is on tour with his band. The film is shot in a cinema verite style. Although there are a few short interviews where Robert Drew is able to sit down and actually talk to Ellington, it mainly focuses on his interaction with the musicians with his band and the other people involved with his tour.
The film shows what Ellington does as a human being rather than the musician everyone knows. In one scene it shows Ellington talking about how he eats breakfast every morning and his feeling of breakfast being the most important meal of the day. Ironically though it shows him eating things like a big steak with mashed potatoes, which he explains possibly being his last meal ever so he didn't want to eat something that is healthy and didn't like. Another scene shows Ellington having a conversation with Louis Armstrong, the famous cornet player and singer. The scene shows the two having a fun conversation and portrays Ellington's utmost respect for a legend like Louis Armstrong.
To me this film portrayed how strong verite shooting can be because verite is a very hands off style of shooting and it just lets life dictate what is being filmed. I think that when Robert Drew was planning this film he chose verite because it was the best way to show his audience the personality of Duke Ellington and making them feel as if they were standing next to him listening in on his conversations.
1 comment:
Great, very succinct and clear commentary. Though it might be interesting to see if your assessment of verite changes based on the reading for this week.
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