Rewind & Play

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Rewind & Play

Released Mar 10, 2023

1h 5m

Documentary

Music

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9 Reviews

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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.

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

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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

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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

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Alain Gomis

Director

Thelonious Monk

Self

Anouk Khélifa

Producer

Arnaud Dommerc

Producer

Alain Gomis

Film Editor

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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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