What makes it different from others?

Touches You

Best movie ever!

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

Charlie Parker was one of the most famous musicians of the Be Bop era of Jazz. On the other hand, while incredibly talented, he was a very self-destructive man...and one with many shortcomings. Because of this, it's not an enjoyable film. Well made, certainly, but not enjoyable. The man was a horrible husband who slept around and ultimately drank and drug himself to death.The film follows Parker mostly through his adult life and tends to focus around his screwing up--such as his suicide attempt, drug and alcohol abuse and his odd and rocky relationship with his common-law wife, Chan. He was already married and apparently had other women he referred to as his wives. Ultimately, the viewer knows that Parker will die...but it takes two hours and forty minutes to get there. Along the way, the movie is incredibly well made by director Clint Eastwood and Forest Whitaker is excellent in the lead. It's about as good a bio you can do on this tremendously screwed up and self-destructive man.

"Bird" traces the life of Charlie Parker, a 1940's soloist jazz great whose improvisation abilities led him to become one of the most acclaimed figure in his own lifetime… However, his self-destructive behavior and association with drugs and alcohol caused him to die before he could fully comprehend the public appreciation of his genius…Eastwood worked with a cast of relative unknown stars, and managed to create an entire period piece on the relatively low budget show…Sensitively acted, visually designed, this dramatic story of the troubled life of a man of tremendous warmth and compassion, Eastwood delivers a compelling portrait of an artist with an ambitious presentation of love including a magnificent score, and stunning sound… (The film's sound captured an Oscar.) Whitaker gives an excellent performance, with an especially inevitable death scene at the age of 34… Diane Venora is impressive as the wife of this great jazz musician… Their last conversation by phone presented the legend Parker's with his conscientious of his near-death, his lost effort, his feeling of loneliness, but also his kindness, his love, and his care to his entire family… A great scene not to be missed!

"Bird" will probably be most appreciated by jazz fans who come to it already familiar with Charlie Parker and his incalculable contributions to jazz and influence on generations of musicians that continues to this day. The script contains many shorthand references that might be lost on the average moviegoer -- e.g., Parker calls Dizzy Gillespie "Birks," which was his middle name, but many people probably don't know that.But there is the music, and tons of it. There are extraordinary performances by Forest Whitaker as Parker, and Diane Venora as his common law wife, Chan. In many ways the film seems more a love story than the standard musical biopic. Chan was unfailingly supportive of Bird, despite his self-destructive drug use, alcoholism and chronic infidelity. He loved her in his own way, and I think she realized that she was in love with a genius who would forever be plagued by demons, and that she couldn't have one without the other.Clint Eastwood's love of jazz is well-known, and in "Bird" he provides a wealth of wonderful music, beautifully performed. The actual playing of Charlie Parker is augmented by accompaniment from contemporary musicians, and Parker has never sounded better. Eastwood also provides an unflinching portrayal of the complicated lives of jazz musicians, and the addictions to which so many succumb.Despite the mess that Bird made of his life, he remains a charming and sympathetic figure. And his music, years ahead of its time, and so complex that countless fledging saxophone players have attempted to copy his recordings note for note, will forever live on.

Don't expect that there will be something in this film that will keep you on the edge of your seat just because Clint Eastwood produced and directed it.Instead, Eastwood cleverly brought the dismal life of jazz musician Charlie"Bird" Parker to the screen by creating a great mix of historical fact, withintelligent acting. This movie is not the best film you'll ever see, but it's not the worst. I would only recommend this movie to people who can sit for 3 hours and be OK with that. Also, this is a good movie for people curious to know about the stereotypical jazz musician's way of life.