Jazz club - the early bird catches the worm

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Movie
Original title Jazz club - the early bird catches the worm
Country of production Germany
original language German
Publishing year 2004
length 80 minutes
Age rating FSK 0
Rod
Director Helge Schneider
script Helge Schneider,
Andrea Schumacher
production Hanno Huth
music Helge Schneider
camera Voxi hogweed
cut Andrea Schumacher
occupation

Jazzclub - The early bird catches the worm is a German comedy from 2004 and the fourth film by the Mülheim jazz artist Helge Schneider , who wrote the script, directed, composed the music and played several roles himself.

action

The film describes the daily life of the fish seller Teddy Schu . In order to keep himself and his wife Jacqueline afloat, he also has to work for the Señora Fuck agency under the name Rodriguez Fazanatas as a man for certain hours and in the early hours of the morning as a newspaper delivery person . In the evenings he occasionally meets under a bridge with an unnamed homeless man who has lost his memory and philosophizes about the hopelessness of everyday life. The relationship with his wife is broken. She accuses him of being a talentless good-for-nothing and attends the consultation of a brilliant psychologist, Professor Henry. In the pedestrian zone, Schu repeatedly encounters a run-down pavement salesman who faces reality with a stubborn “pavement! Two meters two marks! "

However, Teddy prefers to spend his limited free time with his friends, the drummer Howard and the bassist Steinberg, with whom he forms a jazz trio and plays night after night in a small jazz club , but almost always in front of empty chairs and without pay because the jazz club is threatened with closure. The dream of the three friends of playing with the great (fictional) jazz drummer Earl Mobileh seems unattainable.

When Willi, the owner of the jazz club, dies from an overdose of alcohol, jazz music seems to be over for good. A ray of hope in the form of the business card of the music producer Mies van de Kalb, who became aware of the trio, shatters when he cannot be reached on the phone. In acute financial difficulties, Steinberg decides to sell his beloved double bass - his "Lady" - but in the end does not have the heart to do it.

They meet in the homeless person's "apartment" under the arch of the bridge and discuss how to proceed. Suddenly a UFO lands right in front of them. The inmates - tumb laughing, green aliens - invite the trio as well as the homeless and Theo - Willis' simple brother - to accompany them to their planet and make music there. On the way there, the homeless man finds his memory again: He is Earl Mobileh.

History of origin

After the experiences with his previous films, which were in some cases discouraging for him personally, Schneider finally wanted to shoot the film with “Jazzclub” that had long been close to his heart. As the title suggests, the film is a jazz- oriented music film , but it is also a homeland film : it was shot for the most part in Schneider's hometown of Mülheim an der Ruhr and, last but not least, contains a lot of autobiography .

Schneider describes the time before his big breakthrough in the early 1990s in an idealized form. With no school-leaving qualifications and no realistic prospect of ever being able to earn money, he, like his film alter ego Teddy Schu , slipped unsuccessfully through various professions, played in empty halls and dreamed of being recognized and successful as a jazz musician. This is also reflected in the fact that Schneider draws parallels to other jazz greats. So were called Charlie Parker's double bass player also "Steinberg" and his drummer also "Howard". In contrast to Schneider's other films, Jazz Club is not just a slapstick, but rather characterized by a melancholy mood. In repeating sequences of grueling work, passionate jazz music and night tram rides, Schneider assembles a very personal picture of his youth. This film, too, is borne by Schneider's often subtle humor and his flair for the portrayal of peculiar types.

Compared to Schneider's three previous films, the film is quite melancholy and in some ways reminds of his first (published) film Stangenfieber . The happy ending of this film was added relatively late, for a long time during the production it was planned to end the film with a report on the death of the friends (after the spaceship crash they are eaten by cannibals ).

Reviews

“Tailor as he lives and breathes, a lot of anarcho-humor and silly, absurd, embarrassingly stupid and then again pseudo-philosophically banal. If you discover a meaning behind it, you might have even more fun with it. Those who like good jazz, and Mr. Schneider knows a lot about that, will perhaps even love this work, for which the multi-talented director, screenwriter, lead actor and composer. "

- Focus: film

“As usual, the latest oeuvre of the dazzling all-rounder proves to be an outlandish and original, heretical and popular, difficult to digest and yet easy to appreciate musical comedy. Schneider's loyal fans, but also jazz enthusiasts who love to experiment, will be enthusiastic about it. "

- Video Week

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