This movie can’t be accused of false advertising: In the first couple of minutes of “Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench,” we do indeed see Guy and Madeline on a park bench.
How they got there is summed up in a few brief strokes depicting a smallish romance and then a breakup on that very bench. Sorting out the aftermath of that split occupies the next 75 or so minutes of screen time.
But this is not a conventional relationship picture. Director Damien Chazelle has created a curious but winning little movie here: It’s somehow a blend of old-school Hollywood musical, gritty John Cassavetes-style urban jazz (the lead actors could’ve stepped out of Cassavetes’ Beat-era film “Shadows”), and modern indie mumble-fest.
If all of that doesn’t entirely ignite, well, it was worth trying. Guy, a taciturn type played by smooth, cool Jason Palmer, is a trumpeter by trade. He also has a touch with the ladies, as he proves in an early pick-up scene on a subway car, where proximity to a woman named Elena (Sandha Khin) turns into a liaison, and then something else.
Madeline, played by Desiree Garcia, finds herself at loose ends. She listens to a CD of Guy’s jazz music, impulsively decides to move from Boston to New York, and finds a dishwashing job.
This is all shot in black-and-white, with frequent stops for pure music sessions. Actually, it’s a fair question to wonder whether the drama stops for the music, or the other way around.
The music is by Justin Hurwitz, who has created a horn-driven score that sounds as though it belongs in another, maybe slightly cornier, era.
Two standout sequences really set the movie aloft. One is a jam session inside a cramped apartment, all shot in one take as the participants trade licks and dance on piano benches and such.
The other is a tap-dancing ensemble piece in the restaurant where Madeline works; she sings and dances with the other wait staff in the place. It’s like a version of a song from an MGM musical from the 1940s, but rendered in a way that makes you conclude this is what such a scene would look like when placed in the real world.
My head tells me the film’s different pieces (and its thin slices of storyline) don’t quite cohere, but anybody in the mood for a bop off the beaten path might take to its blend of grit and whimsy.
“Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench” ½
The aftermath of a romance, but not rendered in a conventional way: A trumpet player dumps his girlfriend, and they flounder in search of the next move — a thin drama played out against a series of musical numbers, shot in gritty black-and-white. It doesn’t quite work, but the odd blend will charm some viewers.
Rated: Not rated; probably PG-13 for subject matter
Showing: Northwest Film Forum
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