InMorrisa Maltz’sThe Unknown Country, one of themany essential American moviesstarringLily Gladstoneto come out last year, we would frequently slow down to take in the stories of people that many other filmmakers would overlook. Each had a life that we got a snapshot of as Maltz provided a brief yet critical glimpse into their day-to-day existence before continuing along the road. Her spiritual successor to that film, the gently somber yet quietly joyousJazzy, brings this same ethos and gives it a larger canvas. Executive produced by Gladstone in addition to those like fellow filmmakersMark DuplassandMel Eslyn, it hones in on the life ofJasmine “Jazzy” Bearkiller Shangreaux,a young Oglala Lakota girl living in South Dakota who we had gotten to know briefly in that prior film. However,this time it is Gladstone’s Tana who plays a supporting role to her as she grows into her future.
It’s a film that feels just as adept at capturing the process of growing up as somethinglikeBoyhoodwith how it follows Jazzy as she grows from six to twelve, or something like the recentGasoline Rainbow, in how it operates on its own wavelength. There is little in the way of conventional plotting or the passage of time, as Maltz instead just lets things flow through her film. Along with her co-writersVanara Taing,Andrew Hajek, and Jazzy’s mother,Lainey Shangreaux, the filmmaker makes what is an illuminating if imperfect portrait of youth. It isn’t as arresting asThe Unknown Country, instead taking a more frequently halting and impressionistic approach. However, much like how this year’sFuriosais a spectacular accompaniment toFury Roadwhile standing on its own, so too is this, albeit with a lot less racing and fighting through the desert. Instead, it’s a film that captures the joys of youth, the pains of leaving it behind, and the tranquility that stems from finding your path in the world.
What Is ‘Jazzy’ About?
This first begins with a birthday party where we see Jazzy going through small rituals of celebration, blowing out candles, and spending time with her parents. However, rarely do we see adults in this world as, save for some notable faces near the end, this is all about the kids and the experiences they’re often going through alone. As Jazzy later walks down the street of her community, we get introduced to her best friend Syriah before the school bus comes. We also get to know some other kids, many of whom are authentically dorky, yet no less endearing, as they talk about things like how they have a bunch of girlfriends who, notably, are all really good gamers. As the years pass,we’ll see this group grow up before our eyes.
Though all of this is genuinely sweet without ever falling into being saccharine, with great music byAlexis MarshandNeil Halstead,as Jazzy and Syriah do everything from nod their heads together on the bus to get up to all sorts of youthful silliness, there are painful moments that await. When Jazzy and Syriah go from jumping on a trampoline together to the former reflecting on the cycle of exhaustion that awaits in adulthood when living in a state of exploitation and economic precarity, your heart aches at the weight you hear in her voice. Even when they then go back to just being kids again, playing the universally annoying recorders as they run through the snow,the way Maltz flits between these memories gives everything a growing sense of melancholy. These moments of peace and play can’t last forever.
Significantly, the most consequential thing to happen in the film is not some big development or dramatic contrivance. Rather, it is all about the way that Jazzy and Syriah then begin to drift apart.Not sinceThe Banshees of Inisherinhas the potential for a friendship to end hit as hard. As we then discover that Syriah is also moving away, it makes all the past moments of stuffed animal brain transplants and bus rides feel precious. As is the case for all of us, we don’t know just the beauty of the things that we have until they have slipped away. Both the young actors are outstanding as they come to realize this, never once feeling like they are overplaying a scene as each naturally inhabits the rhythms of their young lives that are being disrupted. It’s a coming-of-age drama where the way everything is shot and paced feels like we are looking back on the fragmented memories of childhood that are at risk of fading. Though many films have been about such a subject, Maltz’s formal and thematic interests remain largely her own. She isn’t interested in the big speech that ties everything all together or the moment where everything makes sense. Rather, it’s about how so much of life doesn’t make sense and the more complicated emotions that rise up as we come to realize this. Nowhere is this more felt in the deceptively simple yet absolutely sublime conclusion.
‘Jazzy’ Isn’t About Lily Gladstone, but She’s Great Once Again
It is in the ending where Maltz breaks away from the framing that had dominated the film up until that point. No longer are the adults always obscured as, in a time of mourning and connection, we now see more of their faces as opposed to just hearing them occasionally talking. Rather than feel like some cynical way of having it be that those, like Gladstone as well as other familiar faces from the prior film like the charmingRaymond Leeand the greatRichard Ray Whitman, can stroll in with their star power, it serves the story as it represents a meaningful thematic moment for Jazzy. This is the moment that she is finally being brought into the world of adults and seeing life through new eyes. It not only makes sense for the framing to shift, but it feels quietly moving when executed this way. Gladstone returning as Tana also brings with it an understated impact as well. Though the ending ofThe Unknown Countrywas already spectacular, seeing her character years down the road and now happy is a fitting expansion of this. The film isn’t about her, butGladstone brings a graceful presence that setsJazzyup perfectly for a poetic conclusionthat lays you flat when you least expect it.
While the cinematic montage is a film editing technique that has been around for decades and is one of the foundational aspects of the form, the closing sequence that we build to here is something special. It’s joyous, bittersweet, and earnest in a beautiful way, as we see just how far we’ve come in the film. ThoughThe Unknown Countrycovered more distance in a physical sense, Maltz along with editors Taing andLaura Colwellcrafts yet another show-stopping closer that shows the time traveled through this film has plenty of meaning of its own. As we get one last look at the place and the people that populated it,one particular cut to Jazzy looking up at the sky above subtly yet decisively tears out the heart. The horizons of adulthood stretching before all of us may be daunting, but she’s ready to face it all head-on.
Morrisa Maltz’s Jazzy is a gentle, impressionistic wonder that authentically captures growing up.
Jazzyhad its World Premiere at the 2024 Tribeca Film Festival.
