Sweet and low down

Sweet and Lowdown (Sweet and melancholic, Chords and disagreements or The Great Lover) is a 1999 Woody Allen film. Partially based on the Federico Fellini film La Strada, the film tells the fictional story, set in the 1930s, of jazz guitarist Emmet Ray (played by Sean Penn), who falls in love with a mute woman (Samantha Morton). The film also stars Uma Thurman and Anthony LaPaglia. Like other Allen films (for example, Zelig), the film is occasionally interrupted with interviews with critics and biographers such as Allen, Nat Hentoff, Daniel Okrent and Douglas McGrath, who discuss the plot of the film. film as if the characters were real people.

The film received generally positive reviews upon its release, and Penn and Morton were nominated for Academy Awards for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actress, respectively. The original music is by Dick Hyman, and the film includes jazz songs by Reinhardt himself.

About the Spanish title

Sweet and Lowdown is known in the Spanish-speaking area by various names, something unusual in Woody Allen's films in the region. In some Latin American countries, such as Chile, it was released under the title Sweet and Melancholic. In others, such as Peru and Mexico, it is known as The Great Lover. In Spain it was titled Acordes y descuerdes.

Plot

Emmet Ray is a jazz guitarist who rose to fame in the 1930s with a handful of recordings for RCA Victor, but disappeared from the public eye under mysterious circumstances. Although he is a talented musician, Ray's personal life is in shambles. He is a spendthrift, womanizer, and pimp who believes that falling in love will ruin his music career. Due to his heavy drinking, he is often late or even absent from performances with his quintet. After music, his favorite hobbies are shooting rats in dumps and watching trains go by. Ray idolizes the famous guitarist Django Reinhardt, and it is said that he passed out in his presence and that he fled a nightclub performance in high stage fright upon hearing a false rumor that Reinhardt was in the audience.

On a double date with his drummer, Ray meets Hattie, a shy and mute laundress. After overcoming some initial frustrations due to communication difficulties, Ray and Hattie develop a warm and close relationship. She accompanies him on a trip to Hollywood, where she acts in a short film; Hattie is discovered by a director and enjoys a brief career on the screen. However, Ray is convinced that a musician of his stature should never settle down with just one woman. On a whim, Ray marries socialite Blanche Williams. However, Blanche sees Ray primarily as a colorful example of lower-class life and a source of inspiration for his literary writing. She tells him that Ray is having nightmares and is calling out Hattie's name while she sleeps.

When Blanche cheats on him with mobster Al Torrio, Ray dumps her and searches for Hattie. He thinks that she will return to him, but discovers that she is happily married and raising a family. Then, on a date with a new woman, a dejected Ray plays a tune Hattie adored, then smashes his guitar and despondently repeats the phrase "I made a mistake!" while his date dumps him. Woody Allen and the rest of the documentary experts comment that Ray's last compositions were legendary, finally reaching the quality of Reinhardt's.

Cast

• Sean Penn like Emmet Ray.
• Samantha Morton as Hattie.
• Anthony LaPaglia like Al Torrio.
• Uma Thurman as Blanche Williams.
• James Urbaniak like Henry.
• John Waters as Mr. Haynes.
• Gretchen Mol as Ellie.
• Denis O'Hare like Jake.
• Molly Price like Ann.
• Brian Markinson like Bill Shields.
• Tony Darrow like Ben.
• Daniel Okrent like A.J. Pickman.
• Brad Garrett like Joe Bedloe.
• Woody Allen like himself.
• Ben Duncan like himself.
• Nat Hentoff himself.
• Douglas McGrath like himself.
• Kaili Vernoff as Gracie.