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Rewind & Play

Play trailer Poster for Rewind & Play Released Mar 10, 2023 1h 5m Documentary Music Play Trailer Watchlist
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100% Tomatometer 9 Reviews Popcornmeter Fewer than 50 Ratings
December 1969, Thelonious Monk arrives in Paris. Before his evening concert, he recorded a program for French television. The rushes that have been preserved show us a Thelonious Monk who is rare, close, and in the grip of the violent factory of stereotypes from which he tries to escape. The film becomes the crossing of this great artist, who would like to exist only for his music. And the portrait in hollow of a media machine as ridiculous as revolting.

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Rewind & Play

Critics Reviews

View All (9) Critics Reviews
Ty Burr Ty Burr's Watch List (Substack) Gomis’ film features long, uninterrupted passages of Monk playing the studio’s grand piano, and they are the meat and marvel of the film... Rated: 3/4 Apr 28, 2023 Full Review Peter Rainer FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles) A film that ought to appeal to fans of Thelonious Monk -- but even if you don't know him, you should watch it anyway because everyone should be a fan of Thelonious Monk. Apr 7, 2023 Full Review Robert Abele Los Angeles Times In the stretches when Monk is playing, he gets to be exactly who he is, his exhilarating music doing the talking, his exquisite dissonance suddenly more revelatory than perhaps intended. Apr 6, 2023 Full Review Juan Pablo Russo EscribiendoCine Rewind & Play is a work of art in itself, not only for Gomis’s ability to bring these images to light, but for the way he weaves them together to tell a larger story. [Full review in Spanish] Rated: 7/10 Jul 17, 2024 Full Review Alex Heeney Seventh Row In Rewind & Play, Alain Gomis re-edits an interview jazz pianist Thelonius Monk gave on French TV in the 1960s to expose the sneering racism of the host. Mar 22, 2024 Full Review Elissa Suh Screen Slate Fundamentally an essay film, Rewind & Play illuminates the chasm between tendentious interviewer and inscrutable subject and exposes the slyly pernicious relationship between Black artists and white media machine in the process. Mar 13, 2023 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View All (2) audience reviews
Vincent E One of the greats in jazz. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 05/01/23 Full Review Richard B A weird and exhilarating combination of an interview with outtakes with an awkward, clueless French interviewer, and some of the most astounding, satisfying piano playing ever captured on film. The camera is tight on Monk as he tries to react or not react to the nonsense surrounding him. Some people might not think this is what a documentary should be, but other people don't care, myself included, Rated 5 out of 5 stars 03/23/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Rewind & Play

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Movie Info

Synopsis December 1969, Thelonious Monk arrives in Paris. Before his evening concert, he recorded a program for French television. The rushes that have been preserved show us a Thelonious Monk who is rare, close, and in the grip of the violent factory of stereotypes from which he tries to escape. The film becomes the crossing of this great artist, who would like to exist only for his music. And the portrait in hollow of a media machine as ridiculous as revolting.
Director
Alain Gomis
Producer
Anouk Khélifa, Arnaud Dommerc
Distributor
Grasshopper Film
Production Co
Andolfi
Genre
Documentary, Music
Original Language
French (France)
Release Date (Theaters)
Mar 10, 2023, Limited
Runtime
1h 5m
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