Michael Radford gets close up to Michel Petrucciani

The director of the 1994 movie Il Postino (The Postman) is presenting a documentary about the renowned jazz pianist and composer Michel Petrucianni in Special Screenings. The film is the result of a project he embarked on four years ago.

“I had never heard of Michel previously. Yet when I started doing research for the film, I was immediately fascinated by him“. These few words from film-maker Michael Radford, whose documentary is presented in Special Screenings, are enough to illustrate the degree to which the jazz composer and musician captivated not only his audiences but also all those who knew him..

Michel Petrucciani died in 1999 at the age of 36 as a consequence of brittle bone disease. During the course of his brief career, he had the opportunity of recording with the greatest names in jazz, including Roy Haynes, Wayne Shorter and Dizzy Gillespie.

Based on archive footage, some of which was provided by a number of the thirty-five people interviewed by the film-maker, the movie omits no aspect of the composer’s personality. “I’m convinced that it’s in a person’s flaws that we find their true human qualities. And Michel incontestably had flaws“, says Michael Radford.

In his documentary, the director chooses not to paint a chronological portrait of the musician, preferring instead to concentrate on “the part of humanity” represented by his existence. “Michel symbolises the combat of the human being. it’s the combat that consists in overcoming where we start from and in living to the full, getting everything we can out of life”.

B.P.

The film is scheduled for screening at 7.15pm on 14 May in the Salle Buñuel..