With his sentimental performance and songs, Chet Baker has always blown Jazz fan’s minds away. His resemblance to James Dean had him cast in several films while drawing hoards of girl fans. Failing to escape from the clutches of a drug addiction, he repeated the course of retirement and comeback until he passed away in a hotel in Amsterdam in 1988 when he was just 58. Leaving behind no more than 30 dollars, his lifetime companion trumpet and a few belongings, it was this film’s director, Bruce Weber who paid for the artist’s funeral. Shot in black and white, the filmmaker documents the Jazz musician’s dramatic life as well as introducing his famous songs such as ‘Almost Blue’,‘ Everytime We Say Goodbye’and‘My Foolish Heart’. Scenes of his troubled life and his last recording session in contrast to rare footages showing his performances with Charlie Parker and Gerry Mulligan during the heydays of his career in the 1950s make us fall into a deep sorrow for his bittersweet life. Completed in 1989, this documentary was nominated for Best Documentary during the Academy Awards and won the Critics’Award at the Venice Film Festival. A restored version made in 2007 will be presented at this year’s JIMFF. (Chun Jin-su)