In theaters on January 31, the animated documentary “They Shot the Piano Player” plunges us into a colorful Latin America in the footsteps of jazz and bossa nova legends. But in 1976, the best of them was assassinated. Who killed the pianist Francisco Tenório Jr.?
The Birth of Bossa Nova
It seems that it all started around 1956, in a Rio alley littered with multicolored shards of glass. At the time, the hip musicians of the city were mainly regulars at bars that allowed all sorts of sonic eccentricities. But the guys got carried away. A little too often. Much to the chagrin of the sleepless neighbors who then threw out everything they could find. According to the pavement, glass bottles became the projectile of choice…
It was at this moment that the pianist Carlos Jobim met Vinícius de Moraes, a poet who was a real ladies’ man. The former, a fanatical fan of Claude Debussy, swore only by samba and the frenetic rhythm of choro, a traditional Brazilian music from the 19th century. Together, supported by a certain João Gilberto, they gave birth to a new musical genre at the crossroads of samba and cool jazz. Its name, “bossa nova,” is a literal translation of the French film movement they all fell in love with: the New Wave.
Someone Killed Pianist Francisco Tenório Júnior
Time passes. Jazz geniuses take turns trying out this new trend from the upscale neighborhoods of Ipanema and Copacabana. They dissect it, decorate it, and enrich it until certain surnames spread: Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil, Tom Jobim, or the clarinetist Paulo Moura. Among these future legends who still don’t know it, a pianist attracts the attention of his peers. He is a charming virtuoso with irresistible irony, born in 1941 in Laranjeiras, a residential neighborhood of Rio. His name? Francisco Tenório Júnior. But the greatest pianist of his generation would record only one album, “Embalo” (1964), a true masterpiece of bossa nova. Because one night in March 1976, he disappeared suddenly, leaving no trace. In Rio, extraordinary joy turned to horror… Tenório Júnior was killed.
“They Shot the Piano Player,” an exquisite animated film reserved for fans
Fifty years later, it is Jeff, a fictional New York journalist, who is conducting the investigation. He is the alter ego of Fernando Trueba, a Spanish director and screenwriter who himself investigated the disappearance of the pianist Tenório Júnior for over 20 years. As unlikely as it may seem, he condenses his findings into an animated documentary in the style of a graphic novel, voiced by the actor (and musician) Jeff Goldblum. Alongside Javier Mariscal, with whom he had already directed “Chico and Rita” in 2010, he signs “They Shot the Piano Player,” in theaters on January 31, a feature film that propels us to Latin America, on the trail of bossa geniuses… and the monsters of the dictatorship. Because we will learn that the pianist’s disappearance is linked to a terrifying assassination campaign carried out by the secret services of several states including Chile, Bolivia, Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay. A terrifying “dirty war” conducted by the dictatorships from the 1970s to which the United States also took part.
Fernando Trueba conducted over 150 interviews between Paris, Los Angeles, Rio, and São Paulo. He also went to Argentina, as it was in Buenos Aires that Tenório Júnior suddenly disappeared. “They Shot the Piano Player” will definitely delight jazz and bossa nova music lovers. Let it be said, the film shines more for its sumptuous atmosphere and extraordinary soundtrack than for the investigation it retraces. The filmmakers paint a long portrait of the victim and somewhat rush to conclusions in this sometimes verbose work with excessive name-dropping. Reserved for die-hard fans.
“They Shot the Piano Player” by Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal with Jeff Goldblum, in theaters on January 31.
