Word: gilliams
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...Better Blues, produced, written and directed by Lee, centers around the life of Bleek Gilliam (Denzel Washington), a gifted trumpeter and leader of a popular New York jazz quintet. Gilliam is an arrogant introspective artist who puts his music first and everything else in his life a distant second...
According to an old fable, a bankrupt depression-era investor, asked how he lost his fortune, responded, "Gradually, and then suddenly." This accurately describes the evolution of Gilliam's professional and personal life; as we are introduced to him in the beginning of the film, he is a disaster waiting to happen. Doomed, if you will, from the start...
...Gilliam's relationships with the important people in his life are, to put it mildly, unhealthy. In his single-minded pursuit of his music, Gilliam manages to put off almost everyone. In his personal life, he locks out both of his female companions, Indigo (Joie Lee, the director's sister), a schoolteacher, and Clark (Cynda Williams), an aspiring jazz vocalist. Gilliam appears wildly indifferent to the fact that both Indigo and Clark are in love with him. When his father asks him if he loves one of them, Gilliam responds, "I like her...I like women." He treats them...
Professionally, Gilliam runs his quintet like a dictatorship, repeatedly squashing members' attempts to express themselves and justifying his behavior by the fact that he is the star. "It's my name on the marquee," he tells Shadow (Wesley Snipes), who is arguably as talented as Gilliam. "When your name is on the marquee, you can run things your way." Gilliam continually refuses to fire the group's manager, childhood friend Giant (Lee), despite the latter's obvious ineffectiveness and serious gambling problems...
...audience is not overly surprised, then, when Gilliam finds himself unable to play the trumpet after receiving a broken jaw in a brawl. Gilliam's loss elicits mixed feelings. It is sad to the extent that his entire reason for living is snatched away, ironically while defending Giant from thugs looking to collect on gambling debts. At the same time, Gilliam's decline and fall is predictable--considering the previous structure of his life--and is, to a large degree, well-deserved...