| By Film Forum Photos: YouTube Screenshots LET’S GET LOST (1988), Bruce Weber’s Academy Award-nominated documentary portrait of the elusive jazz icon Chet Baker, will run at Film Forum in a new 4K restoration from Friday, November 1 through Thursday, November 7. A James Dean look alike pretty boy whose jazz trumpeting and melancholy epitomized 50s cool, Chet Baker had become, when famed photographer Bruce Weber finally caught up with him after three decades of fandom, an alcoholic and a junkie, whose petulantly angelic looks peeping out from behind a gaunt, valleyed and crevassed face could have starred for Sam Peckinpah. Two visually stunning and musically moving hours with the iconic jazz trumpeter in the most romantically erotic jazz documentary ever made, shot by D.P. Jeff Preiss in stark, brooding film noir black & white. Shifting back and forth from past to present, from Baker’s breakout performance and his controversial “doomed youth” years, to his poignant late-career decline and struggles with addiction, LET’S GET LOST forms a dreamy, improvisational quality offering a rare, behind-the-scenes glimpse into the decadent life of jazz music’s original bad-boy. Interviews with musicians (including Frank Strazzeri, John Leftwich, Ralph Penland, and Nicola Stilo), as well as Baker’s friends, ex-wife (a former British show girl who had dated Terence Stamp), and three children, are interspersed with evocative photo montages of William Claxton’s iconic 50s photo sessions, clips from old movies featuring young Chet, and rare performance footage, capturing a man whose “frosty hipness was, in the ’50s, considered a sexy alternative to that era’s prevailing ethos of earnest, striving respectability.” – Terrence Rafferty, The New York Times Also screening the week of the film’s run are Weber’s documentary features CHOP SUEY (2001), BROKEN NOSES (1987), A LETTER TO TRUE (2004)–all in 35mm–as well as THE TREASURE OF HIS YOUTH (2022), the New York premiere of the Robert Mitchum documentary portrait NICE GIRLS DON’T STAY FOR BREAKFAST (2018), and a program of shorts. |
| IN-THEATER PRESS SCREENING: LET’S GET LOST Thursday, October 24 at 10:00AM at Film Forum, 209 West Houston Street RSVP to [email protected] |
| “MAGICAL. Weber’s visual intuitions are as lyrical and right as Baker’s musical instincts.” – Pauline Kael, The New Yorker “Hauntingly beautiful… redolent of both contemporary notions of glamour and of the late-1950’s jazz mystique.” – Janet Maslin, The New York Times “[A] stark, haunting and often dryly funny portrait of an all-American hipster-heel in twilight.” – Gene Seymour, Newsday “[A] shimmeringly decadent and fascinating portrait of the West Coast jazz legend Chet Baker.” – Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly “About the nature of cool… a romantic valentine to the 50s.” – J. Hoberman, The Village Voice |
| Written and directed by Bruce Weber Executive Producer: Nan Bush Cinematography by Jeff Preiss Edited by Angelo Corrao Music by Chet Baker 1988 | United States | 120 minutes 4K Restoration | Kino Lorber Restored by Cineric, New York City from a 16mm reversal original of the film, Supervised by Bruce Weber |
| Public Screening Schedule Subject to change; check web for latest LET’S GET LOST U.S., 1988 Directed by Bruce Weber With Chet Baker, William Claxton, Russ Freeman Approx. 120 min. 4K DCP restoration. NOMINEE – Academy Awards – Best Documentary Feature, 1989 WINNER – IDA Award, International Documentary Association, 1989 WINNER – Cinecritica Award, Venice Film Festival, 1988 Friday, November 1 at 1:00, 3:30, 7:45 Saturday, November 2 at 3:15, 7:45 Sunday, November 3 at 3:15, 5:45 Monday, November 4 at 1:00, 2:15, 7:50 Tuesday, November 5 at 1:00, 3:30, 7:50 Wednesday, November 6 at 1:00, 3:30, 6:00 Thursday, November 7 at 1:00, 3:30, 8:00 |
| BROKEN NOSES U.S., 1987 Directed by Bruce Weber With Andy Minsker, Sean Bedwell, Aaron Berry Approx. 75 min. 35mm. WINNER – IDA Award, International Documentary Association, 1988 Friday, November 1 at 6:00 |
| THE TREASURE OF HIS YOUTH U.S., 2022 Directed by Bruce Weber With Paolo Di Paolo Approx. 105 min. DCP. Saturday, November 2 at 1:00 |
| NICE GIRLS DON’T STAY FOR BREAKFAST U.S., 2018 Directed by Bruce Weber With Robert Mitchum, Polly Bergen, Benicio Del Toro, Johnny Depp, Clint Eastwood Approx. 90 min. DCP. Saturday, November 2 at 5:45 Thursday, November 7 at 6:00 |
| SHORT FILMS BY BRUCE WEBER Liberty City Is Like Paris to Me (2009) Wine and Cupcakes (2007) The Teddy Boys of the Edwardian Drape Society (1996) Gentle Giants (1995) Backyard Movie (1991) The Beauty Brothers (1987) DCP. Total Program Runtime: Approx. 70 min. Sunday, November 3 at 1:30 |
| CHOP SUEY U.S., 2001 Directed by Bruce Weber With Jan-Michael Vincent, Peter Johnson, Frances Faye Approx. 98 min. 35mm. SPECIAL MENTION – Teddy, Berlin Film Festival, 2001 Sunday, November 3 at 8:15 Wednesday, November 6 at 8:30 |
| A LETTER TO TRUE U.S., 2004 Directed by Bruce Weber With Julie Christie, Marianne Faithfull, Bruce Weber Approx. 78 min. 35mm. Thursday, November 7 at 6:00 |
