Verdict
Summary
Concise, perceptive, and well done by filmmaker Jeremy Paul Kagan, Scott Joplin took me by surprise because I had no expectations of it, and the catchy music is always at the center. Having known next to nothing about Joplin before watching it (other than that his music helped make The Sting the classic that it is), I was consistently engaged with the story of his life, and Williams is great in it, as is Art Carney and Margaret Avery, whose final scene in the film is indelible. The film zips through the major events in Joplin’s life without feeling rushed, and at only 96 minutes, the film covers all its bases perfectly.
Plot:
A biopic about an African American composer who made Ragtime music all the rage.
Review:
As a child, Scott Joplin was a prodigy at music, but his very humble beginnings and the color of his skin were setbacks in turn of the century America. He learned to read and write music at a young age, but with no formal schooling, he set out to become “a professor” – a pianist entertainer at brothels – and become the best of them all. While playing music for customers at brothels, Joplin (sensitively played by Billy Dee Williams) honed his craft and began writing his compositions down, but being surrounded by constant temptations, he unknowingly contracted syphilis, a deadly disease that would be the source of his great sorrow later in life. When he caught the ear of a music publisher (played by Art Carney) who would buy and publish his music and make him famous, Joplin would rise as “the sound and soul of America” and be considered a genius, but the odds were ever against him, as he constantly tried to be considered a serious composer. His ragtime sound was unique and inimitable, but society tended to look down on his music for appealing to bawdy neighborhoods, brothels, and for tenderloin districts rather than for serious concert halls. He would marry a widow (played by Margaret Avery), have a child, who would die as an infant (partly due to his disease that he passed on to it), and would hit rock bottom and start all over with a passion project: An opera.
Concise, perceptive, and well done by filmmaker Jeremy Paul Kagan, Scott Joplin took me by surprise because I had no expectations of it, and the catchy music is always at the center. Having known next to nothing about Joplin before watching it (other than that his music helped make The Sting the classic that it is), I was consistently engaged with the story of his life, and Williams is great in it, as is Art Carney and Margaret Avery, whose final scene in the film is indelible. The film zips through the major events in Joplin’s life without feeling rushed, and at only 96 minutes, the film covers all its bases perfectly.
Kino Lorber brings Scott Joplin to Blu-ray in a nice high definition transfer, and there’s an audio commentary by the director, plus a trailer.
