Perhaps the best jazz documentary of the year, (there seems to be a new one every week and there were a couple at the festival), Kaspar Collin’s I Called Him Morgan possesses something that all other documentaries do not, which is a look and feel that transcends the form. Cinematography from Bradford Young goes quite a long way, and while Young also shot Arrival, which played at TIFF, the documentary feels elegant and modern and contemporary, despite focusing on a subject that has passed, (that being the central mystery of the film, though certainly jazz itself can be seen as coming and going).

I Called Him Morgan has a murder mystery as its framework, particularly who killed Lee Morgan. The who quickly gives way to why, and the why to what this form possesses that seems to be missing in modern artistry. The performances themselves are enrapturing, and quite unintentionally, but interestingly, the film feels like a counterpoint, or even a corrective to the Grolsch’s People’s Choice winner La La Land. A masterpiece.

[star v=45]