Rewind & Play

In December 1969, the legendary US jazz pianist Thelonious Monk is being interviewed for TV in a studio in Paris. The host asks about his childhood, his first performance in Paris, his avant-garde style. He probes for familiar answers, but doesn’t get them.

Monk mumbles a few words at most, barely understand the questions, looks resigned, powerless, sad or needled. Sweat pours down his face in close-up, while the microphone in front of him on the grand piano faithfully records his restrained sighs and moans. It’s only when the legend starts to play that all the tension seems to ebb away—from him, and from the viewers of this painful scene.

Alain Gomis, best known for feature films including Félicité (2017), skillfully edits the rushes of this old television interview into an abrasive double portrait of a totally authentic genius and the media coverage that principally seeks to reproduce stereotypes.