the tindog coffeehouse

I’ve had the opportunity to see the new movie Blue Like Jazz twice now, once at a pre-release screening in March and again this past opening weekend. As anyone who’s followed me on Twitter or Facebook can attest, it’s pretty much been all I’ve talked about for the last month or so. I’ve tweeted, retweeted, and posted Facebook status updates galore. I’ve talked to friends, family members, and pastors at my church about it. I’ve blogged about it (multiple times). I even gave out Blue Like Jazz flyers and stickers at work. And my wife has been just as active, even going so far as to wear a promotional t-shirt for the movie for almost a week straight.

I want this movie to succeed, not just financially but succeed in getting the approval of Christians around the country. I want them to see what I did in it, what I saw in the book by Donald Miller, and what I’ve seen in other books he’s written. It’s important. But why?

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I never liked jazz music because jazz music doesn’t resolve. But I was outside the Bagdad Theater in Portland one night when I saw a man playing the saxophone. I stood there for fifteen minutes, and he never opened his eyes.

After that I liked jazz music.

Sometimes you have to watch somebody love something before you can love it yourself. It is as if they are showing you the way.

I used to not like God because God didn’t resolve. But that was before any of this happened.

– Donald Miller, Blue Like Jazz

My wife asked me what Donald Miller meant when he wrote that jazz music doesn’t resolve. I explained that unlike most music, jazz doesn’t follow a predefined formula. It doesn’t necessarily have a distinct beginning, middle, and end; it’s impromptu, meandering, and created from the soul. Most music is like a story with clearly defined elements of setting, character, conflict, and resolution. But jazz doesn’t always follow such guidelines. Still it can be just as beautiful and just as powerful, and it’s often more so.

Based (very loosely) on the Donald Miller book by the same name, Blue Like Jazz the movie tells the story of Don (played by Marshall Allman), whose own story has already been written. Having grown up in a straight-laced, conservative Southern Baptist church in Houston, Don is preparing to transfer from his local junior college to the prestigious Baptist university down the road. A good son to his divorced mother and an assistant youth pastor, the resolution to Don’s story is already planned, but a stunning event suddenly causes him to question everything he believes in and he soon finds himself in Portland, Oregon, enrolled in the ultra-liberal Reed College, described as the most godless college campus in America.

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It’s an honest work if I can stand up on it
Maybe we’re not as far apart as it appears

– MUTEMATH, “Armistice”

On Monday I reserved my tickets to the advanced screening of the Blue Like Jazz movie, scheduled for March 21 in Fort Worth. I’m beyond excited, not only to see the movie but also to meet Donald Miller and Steve Taylor. (Note: I’ll be posting a review after I see it in a few weeks. Stay tuned.)

Recently I heard someone describe the film (based, of course on the Donald Miller book of the same name) as not being a Christian movie but rather a movie about a Christian. I thought that was an interesting way to put it, particularly since it’s geared toward a college-aged non-Christian audience. Constrast that description with movies like Facing the Giants and Courageous, which are overtly Christian movies with a distinct Christian message made especially for a Christian audience. Not that there’s anything wrong with that; both are great movies, but they aren’t likely to attract a lot of young, non-churchgoing viewers. In that regard, I have to wonder if Blue Like Jazz could be described as sort of the anti-Courageous.

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Source.

Previously:
The story behind ‘A Charlie Brown Christmas’

I had my doubts about the movie adaptation of Donald Miller’s Blue Like Jazz after reading unChristian author Gabe Lyons’ review of the screenplay. After seeing this teaser trailer, though, I’m doubting no more.

It looks amazing.

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About a week ago, we finally got around to seeing the animated movie How To Train Your Dragon. It’s a great movie, and the kids loved it. Of course, when it first came out, I couldn’t help but to joke that it looked nothing like the book, that book being Donald Miller’s To Own A Dragon.

Interestingly, though, I think there might be some thematic similarities between the two.

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