Blue Like Jazz (2012)

I have never written a review on IMDb before but felt compelled to after watching this film. Last night I was looking for a good independent film to watch and this flicked across the screen in my Netflix options. Never having heard of the book and not knowing a thing about what I was getting myself into, I went for it. There were early hints that I had walked myself into a "Christianity is the bestest" type film, but I didn't know for sure until halfway through when the main love interest professes to the main character something along the lines of, "I can't explain it, I just love Jesus!". I recognized this tell-tale sign of propaganda but decided to suspend judgement. I sat through the rest of the film in hopes that there'd be surprise character or plot development in the second half. Unfortunately, there wasn't. The plot is thin and predictable. I find it remarkable that others who have reviewed the film found it thought provoking. In my estimation, those who found it to be this way enjoyed the affirmation that the film provided. Can't fault anyone there: we all like a little positive reinforcement from Hollywood every now and then.For those of us who aren't sold on Christianity, the underlying theme of Christianity being the "right" belief is obvious and more than a little off-putting. In order to be truly thought provoking (to those who aren't already on board with the concept), the message shouldn't have been so obvious and cheesy. If the hope was that this movie would help put Christianity in a better light with non-Christians, the movie misses that mark too. None of the characters exhibited a need for Jesus/the church - at their core they were smart people with good consciouses, and were clearly capable of sorting themselves out without the church. I didn't see or hear any testimony as to why either required religious support to do this, in fact the movie highlighted several good reasons to stay away from the church: priest pedophilia and some mixed up relationships amongst church members. If a salesperson is trying to sell something, they need to talk about the benefits of the product they're pushing at least a little bit, right? All in all, this is probably a great film if you are a "church-every-Sunday" kind of person - this may be just the thing to make you feel great about your beliefs (basing this not on personal experience but on other reviews). But if you are that person, please don't kid yourself that this will be the movie to convince your non-believer friends that they should worship with you. For the non-believers, regardless of your non-believing status, this movie is skippable. The plot, characters, acting and writing is all pretty thin - not a whole lot of meat to chew on here.

The movie Blue Like Jazz follows the path of discovery of Donald Miller a youngster who tries to escape his Christian upbringing by enrolling himself into a 'liberal' college only to go through the whole process of denying what he was told to believe in all his life. All along one sees him struggling to be somebody he is not... like a dog trying to shake off its own tail!What I liked about the movie was that Don was open to all that he came across. He really did not make a decision about something just because he felt so... he looked for convictions... Another aspect of the movie that I found quite interesting to observe was the influence and role of friends. The impact they had on Don and the things he does in their life... (Penny, Lauryn, Russian, him mom, 'Pope'). And finally I hope Don continues to carry on as 'Pope' for I sincerely believe he'd do a better and greater job being Pope than going out gun-blazing saying that he believes in God and all that goes with it. He truly would be a great help to all those fellow students to help them in their situation than taking a pedestal posture or stance and helping 'from above'!It quite well summarizes the journey of self-discovery, of finding out the value and meaning of real faith... not just 'inheriting faith' but 'earning' it and thereby living it! That I think makes a huge ... huge... difference in reality. Most of us barely manage to graduate to the latter stage of faith. http://www.vcastilino.blogspot.in/

Blue Like Jazz? Blue Like the Emergent Church apparently.How can this film be described other than an idealized portrayal of how a dysfunctional American Christianity should interact with a seemingly liberalizing American society? When two polar opposite cultures are placed in one location how can co-existence occur? Compromise, Rebellion, Humility, and Apology appear to be the answer by the end of the film. The American Liberal view of how American Christianity ought to operate is idealized in this film: Accept us for who we are, look the other way, and apologize. However, the book from which this movie is based on is 100% fiction as is the movie.This film appears to be the dream of the Emergent Church's Post-Modern idealization of how Christianity ought to be. From the beginning the pain and dysfunction of each character is quite readily evident which in turn reflects the pain and dysfunction of Christianity as represented by the church in the United States. Our brave main character, Don, comes from an average Southern Christian background when his world is destroyed when he finds out his divorced mother is having an affair with the youth pastor of whom he is very close with. This is unacceptable, so with the help of his apparently dysfunctional drop-out liberal father's offer, our young lead sets out on a trip to the notorious Reed college in the Pacific Northwest in order that he may find himself. After denying his heritage and beliefs throughout the movie he attempts to gain acceptance from his peers in an 'enlightened' environment. (What exactly the Post-Modern Church wants to do to try to win people over.) He is further inflamed when he finds out his mother is pregnant. This event then appears to further solidify his new found acceptance through his compromise of values when he is suddenly rocked by his love-interest's discovery of the God and the healing that he had abandoned in his old life. Through a series of events he is drawn back to the church which culminates to the ending where he is setup as a pope figure using his position in a role-reversal manner to apologize for how his faith (Conservative Christianity) has damaged the people of Reed College in some way. The movie then ends.Fortunately this movie is 100% fiction with a cliché event at every corner to mirror that of most Christian films. Like most of the Post-Modern Emergent church's teachings, the audience is left to wonder what is going on. The movie ends with the lead character apologizing to a line of people who are there to see 'the pope' about how Christianity has messed up their life. We never discover what happens to any of the characters. Instead we are left with questions such as: Did Don restore his relationship with God? with his mother? the youth pastor? his father? the love-interest? Is redemption possible? Are all people equally messed up no matter what their belief is? Does God even exist? What is truth? This film appears to paint a picture of post-modern madness quite clearly.

This is honestly one of my favorite movies. It is controversial however for its blunt honesty, and how realistic it is to our world, which is why I love it. It does include some adult themes such as sexual innuendos, and cursing, but it only adds to the overall effect.It is one of those movies that make you think, and challenge yourself. It calls you out on a lot of things that we as Christians do, which it why it is so controversial. You have to watch this movie several times to truly grasp its genius.Please show some support for this movie, there are many people who would benefit from seeing this movie.