Director: Thomas Reichman
Country: United States
"Mingus" is an intimate documentary film about the magnificent Charlie Mingus, my favorite jazz player, and one of the greatest artists in the history of universe, a cosmic genius and maestro, but also a human being as everybody else. Shot in black and white in his apartment in New York City, we can see many angles in the life of Charlie: the American citizen, the father (his daughter is with him the whole time) the New Yorker and the musician.
Charles talks about many topics such as politics, sexuality, firearms, drugs, religion or the American life, some of his opinions are nonsense but funny at the same time, and others are deep, although he can't develop them due to his lack of formal education as he mentions and we can see his frustration and difficulty to express his thoughts. It is very clear that his real nation was jazz music, not America, a country segregated by races, prejudices and capitalism itself, and Mingus is dissapointed and sad because of how difficult was life for any American and even harder for a black person.
Seeing Mingus being evicted from his apartment and crying and telling that he wanted to build a music school is heartbreaking, and is more difficult to believe that he was treated that way, a genius!, we are talking about Charlie Mingus here, he was (and still is) like Beethoven for classical music!.
A short documentary film (55 minutes approx.) but a great piece of material to understand and to emphatize with Charlie Mingus, a forgotten genius who deserves and should be recognized and known for the new generations, but most importantly a real musician who, even when he's dead, can change the world.
