Anything featuring the music of Thelonious Monk, one of my all-time favorite musicians, is going to be good, and this documentary about his long friendship with the Jewish Baroness Pannonnica Rothschild de Keonigswarter is fascinating. Written, produced, and directed by Hannah Rothschild, de Koenigswarter's great-niece, it has the personal touch only a family member could deliver. There is archival film footage of the immortal jazz pianist and composer Monk (not literally immortal: 1917-1982), lots of photos of Pannonica (Nica) (1913-1988) as well as interviews with jazz greats Quincy Jones, Sonny Rollins, Thelonious Monk Jr., and more, as well as several historians. Helen Mirren supplies Nica's voice-over.
This doesn't show up on netflix yet but let's hope HBO makes it available eventually. I wouldn't mind seeing it again because of the egregious visual problems at Sunday's screening. It's showing in Washington DC on April 1, for anyone who's going to be nearby. Here's the trailer as well as a youtube video of Monk in 1966. Search for Thelonious Monk (not, as Jack likes to say, "The Loneliest Monk") on the youtube site and you'll find many options for your listening and viewing pleasure.
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