Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		5.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.5

'Round Midnight Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman May 31, 2024

Thelonius Monk was one of the most anachronistic and provocative jazz pianists and composers of his era, to the point that he was often met with outright consternation not just by "everyday" listeners but also by some of his colleagues and even collaborators in the jazz community. While Monk is often remembered for his unconventionally asymmetric and dissonant tunes like Well You Needn't and Straight No Chaser, he also wrote one of the most elegant and as they say "easily accessible" ballads in the annals of American popular music, 'Round Midnight, which helped contribute to making Monk one of the most (cover version) recorded jazz artists of all time, proving that you can be both an outsider and insider simultaneously. 'Round Midnight is of course at the center of this fascinating if perhaps occasionally problematic film from Bernard Tavernier which "fictionalizes" elements of lives of actual jazz performers, but which is notable (no pun intended) for offering jazz titan Dexter Gordon a late life opportunity to shine both musically and as an actor (Gordon received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor for this performance), as well as providing some really fantastic live jazz performances from Gordon and an incredible retinue of icons, including Herbie Hancock on keys (Hancock won the Oscar for Best Score for the film).

There's a rather interesting supplement on this disc featuring jazz and film critic Gary Giddins, who details how he "met" director Bertrand Tavernier via old style snail mail when Tavernier wrote to Giddins after Giddins wrote a scathing review of this film in The Village Voice. Perhaps surprisingly, the two became fast friends, but Giddins is still on record as having major reservations about large swaths of this "fictionalized" tale, one which still indulges pretty liberally in tropes associated with films about jazz musicians and maybe even as Giddins mentions black jazz musicians in particular.

Dexter Gordon is on hand as tenor genius Dale Turner, a guy who has figured out being a master of your instrument doesn't necessarily you'll have scratch to pay your bills. Perhaps understandably (and this is one of the "jazz musician movie clichés" Giddins has a problem with), Turner has, well, turned to alcohol and drugs to help numb the pain, or perhaps spark the musical inspiration, and there's a continuing subtext (and at times, outright text) about these "substance abuse issues" throughout the film, as Turner ventures to and fro trying to find himself and/or his next fix. Until, of course, he at least momentarily sees the light and attempts to go straight, though the screenplay seems to suggest happy endings may not be in store for Turner.

The film's narrative can seem hackneyed, especially (in yet another issue Giddins mentions) when Tavernier indulges in the old Romantic (capital R) notion that outward weather mirrors inward psychological states, and the film kind of ludicrously morphs from torrential downpours to sunny brightness depending on Turner's inner experience. But Turner is nonetheless brought rather stunningly to life by Gordon, and Giddins, who knew Gordon well, goes into some detail about how different the character and real life musical titan were. Kind of amazingly, Giddins finds fault with Gordon's playing in the film (all done live), which seems to be a willful acknowledgement that Gordon was near the end of his life and no longer the angry young bop proponent, so to speak.

'Round Midnight Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

'Round Midnight is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. In lieu of an insert booklet, this release offers a foldout leaflet (that includes a rather beautiful recreation of the film's original poster), with the following information on the restoration:

'Round Midnight is presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.39:1. This new 4K digital restoration was created from the 35 mm original camera negative, which was scanned on an Arriscan film scanner at L'Image Retrouvee in Paris. The original 2.0 surround soundtrack was remastered from the 35 mm magnetic tracks. Please be sure to enable Dolby Pro Logic decoding on your receiver to prperly play the Dolby 2.0 surround soundtrack.

I'll leave that last bit for the audio section, but this is a really gorgeous looking transfer for the most part, though as mentioned above the story at least in part is on the rainy, dowdy side, something that is probably reinforced at least subliminally by a production design that really emphasizes browns throughout. Color timing looks generally great, but frankly struck me as a bit too brown (with just hints of yellow) at times. Detail levels are typically excellent, to the point that you can make out smudges on some of the brass instruments and where fine patterns like the jacket Herbie Hancock wears in several scenes resolve flawlessly. Grain resolves naturally throughout.

'Round Midnight Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

'Round Midnight features DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 options, which makes the above verbiage in the insert leaflet about Dolby 2.0 a bit odd, but one way or the other, both tracks offer beautiful fidelity and commendable clarity for the live jazz performances. The 5.1 track does open things up naturally for the musical sequences, but perhaps a bit less consistently and/or artfully with regard to dialogue and sound effects. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.

'Round Midnight Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Gary Giddins (HD; 23:44) is on hand in this really interesting interview where he gets into some of the information alluded to above.


• Michael Cuscuna and Maxine Gordon (HD; 28:01) is a heartfelt reminiscence by Dexter Gordon's widow and music producer Cuscuna.


• Before Midnight (HD; 52:32) offers material behind the scenes material shot by Jean Achache during the production of the film.


• Columbia University Panel (HD; 39:19) is a great discussion featuring Bertrand Tavernier, Michael Cuscuna, Maxine Gordon, Mark Ruffin and John Szwed.


• "Fried Bananas", 1969 (HD; 11:25) is some live footage of Gordon and his group in Copenhagen.

The foldout leaflet contains an interesting essay by Mark Anthony Neal.

'Round Midnight Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Despite some rampant clichés, there's some wonderful content here, and Gordon is exceptional. The live musical performances are typically excellent, even if some curmudgeons like Giddins may find fault with the elderly Gordon's facility. Technical merits are first rate and the supplements very enjoyable. Recommended.