Mo’ Better Blues
‘Mo’ Better Blues’ is a film that follows the life of Bleek Gilliam, a jazz trumpeter in New York. Bleek is fully dedicated to his craft – constantly practicing his playing and performing almost every night at a club with his group, The Bleek Quintet. The film shows Bleek’s jazz playing career as he struggles with various obstacles, including an amateur manager, the separation of his quintet, and ultimately his inability to continue playing the trumpet. As I watched the film, I felt that Bleek’s character was exempted from his behavior and I couldn’t agree with that tone that the film gave off.
In the film, we see that Bleek is maintaining relationships with two women at the same time. He sleeps with both Clarke and Indigo,
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Indigo is rightfully upset about him coming to see her since she hasn’t heard from him in almost a year, but Bleek tries to reconcile with her. Indigo repeatedly refutes Bleek but ultimately accepts him. The film shows their future together – their marriage, the birth of their first born son Miles and their life together. This final act didn’t sit well with me at all. After all the hurt that Bleek had put Indigo through, not contacting her for so long after his injury and two-timing on her with Clarke, Indigo is relegated to being a wife to a negligent husband. It ultimately feels like a spit in the face, in the sense that despite what Bleek had done in the film he still gets some semblance of a reward. Indigo ends up feeling like some trophy awarded to Bleek for going through all his hardships.
Overall, I still enjoyed ‘Mo’ Better Blues’ as a whole. It was an enjoyable film with laughs here and there, interesting characters that capture your attention, and warnings about human irresponsibility. I did, however, find it hard to root for Bleek, which makes watching a movie difficult when you can’t root for the main