“Let’s Get Lost” is an intriguing title for a movie, taken from a popular song by trumpet legend Chet Baker. Baker crossed that big divide between pop music stardom and jazz obscurity with his song selection, trumpet-playing and his distinctive vocals. It didn’t hurt that he was matinee-idol handsome either.
Film director Bruce Weber made the documentary a year before Baker died and released it right about the time of his death in 1988. I’m not sure if it came out before or after the event. I’m
sure Weber knew that the demise was imminent — as you can tell by the end of the documentary.
It’s a fascinating story, even if you aren’t a jazz music fan. Underneath everything else is the anti-drug message without all the preaching and exaggeration. Baker was not only talented, he was young and beautiful — all the ingredients for becoming a big star.
But the downside of drugs are not only how they disable you, disfigure you and kill you — but the part about going to prison and getting your teeth kicked out when you can’t pay the pusher. And maybe, just possibly, the murder. Or was it a drug-induced accident? Or maybe even suicide? Whichever — it was all because of the drugs.
In any event, this is a powerful film and deserves a wider audience. I saw it in an art-house theater in San Diego a few years ago, and although I was familiar with some of Baker’s work, this really gave me a new appreciation. The man fought his drug addiction and all the repercussions of it, but in the end — Chet Baker lost.
Rent “Let’s Get Lost” and be prepared to enjoy it and maybe learn a little.
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