Details
Movie Description
Woody Allen's pseudo-biopic about 1930's jazz guitarist Emmet Ray (Sean Penn) is a personal tribute by the director to a period of musical history that has inspired and influenced him greatly. Penn immerses himself into the role of the boozing, womanizing Ray with his usual intensity (this time, with a comic slant). Cameos by Allen and author Nat Hentoff give the film a TAKE THE MONEY AND RUN feel, but it is Fei Zhao's rich photography, as well as the solid musical sequences, that provide the film with its depth. Overall, though, this is a lighthearted effort that aims solely for the funny bone. Samantha Morton steals the show as Ray's silently suffering wife in a breakout role that should elevate her to the forefront of Hollywood actresses.
Film Notes
DVD Features
Region 1
Keep Case
Full Frame - 1.33
Single Side - Single Layer
Audio:
Dolby Digital Mono 2.0 - English
Additional Release Material:
Trailers - 1. Bonus Trailers
Biographies - 1. Woody Allen
2.Sean Penn
3. Uma Thurman
4. Samantha Morton
Interactive Features:
Interactive Menus
Scene Access
Industry Reviews
"Woody Allen is in a mellow mood with SWEET AND LOWDOWN....A wonderful showcase for presenting some of the great jazz standards he loves so much..."
Variety - p.40-4 - David Stratton
"...Fizzy, fast-paced, eccentric....Penn and Morton both deservedly received Oscar nods..." -- 4 out of 5 stars
Total Film - p.84 - Demetrios Matheou
"...Penn glows....Thurman charms....[Morton is] revelatory..." -- 4 out of 5 stars
Premiere - p.98 - John Cochran
"...There's a sweetness to SWEET AND LOWDOWN whenever Penn and Morton interact on screen....Hers is a wondrous performance....Penn, who couldn't give a bad performance if he tried, is also fun..."
Box Office - p.153 - Shlomo Schwartzberg
"...[Penn] brings an essential energy and a nice deadpan comic sensibility to his portrait of the great and greatly flawed guitarist....It's a loving and comic tribute to a musical era Allen knows well..."
Los Angeles Times - Kenneth Turan (12/10/1999)
"...Emmet Ray is a fictional character, but so convincing in Woody Allen's SWEET AND LOWDOWN that he seems like a real character of jazz history we somehow overlooked..."
Chicago Sun-Times - Roger Ebert (12/22/1999)
"The movie represents Woody in a minor mode, but it's marvelous all the same."
Wall Street Journal (06/12/2009)
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