Anna Daniels
When he was only 32 years old, Damien Chazelle became the youngest person to ever win the Academy Award for Best Director. After winning that prize for La La Land, he directed the Neil Armstrong-centric First Man and then did what most high-profile filmmakers seem to be doing these days: took a trip to the world of streaming. The result is The Eddy, an upcoming Netflix series about Chazelle’s passion/obsession: jazz.
Now a new trailer has arrived, and while the teaser seemed to hint at a series which basked in the inherent romance of musicians playing their hearts out at a Parisian jazz club, this full trailer shows what can happen when flights of fancy come crashing down to reality.
The Eddy Trailer
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMUPp_hNMlM?feature=oembed&w=740&h=416]
When André Holland appeared in that sexy, smoky supporting role in Moonlight (the film which beat Chazelle’s La La Land in the most memorable Oscars moment in history), it marked a significant breakout for the up-and-coming actor. But instead of becoming a full-fledged movie star afterward, he’s chosen to parlay that success into several TV gigs on shows like Castle Rock and American Horror Story, and a leading role in the Netflix film High Flying Bird. Now he’s back at the streamer in The Eddy, playing a New York musician who bounced from the Big Apple to the City of Lights to start a jazz club, only to realize that his partner has gotten them into some shady dealings that could cause his entire foundation to crumble.
As you can see, this is not “Ryan Gosling mansplains jazz to Emma Stone,” or even “Miles Tellar becomes obsessed with being the best jazz drummer he can be.” This is a whole new gear for Chazelle – and I may be reading too much into it, but I wonder if there’s a little bit of self-reflection going on in this story, a bit of jaded Hollywood experience mixed in to a story about the clash between art and commerce. We’ll have to wait and see when the whole show comes out, but I’ll be keeping my eye out for possible parallels with Chazelle’s own artistic journey.
Here’s the show’s official synopsis:
In this vibrant musical drama Elliot Udo, a once celebrated musician from New York, is running a small Jazz club called The Eddy in a multicultural neighborhood in modern-day Paris. He is struggling to keep the club open, manage the house band and deal with his past. When he finds out that his partner is involved in questionable business practices things start to spin out of control.
The Eddy arrives on Netflix on May 8, 2020.
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