Reader Response: Round Midnight

In general, I thought the movie “Round Midnight” was interesting. But for me personally the narrative was kind of hard to follow. I personally hated Dale Turner’s accent, dialogue, diction, whatever the hell caused him to mumble, slur his word. With all honestly I just could not understand a thing the man was saying, and it was not until subtitles were activated that I was able to fully comprehend the dialogue.

Furthermore, once again we are presented with another movie about jazz whose protagonist character is self destructive and riddled with drug problems. Dale Turner, as presented in the movie, has an alcohol problem which feeds into his self-destructive nature. Turner is hardly able to function in Paris without help from his band members and the black woman staying at the hotel. But what became most apparent to me about Turner was his isolation and alienation from everyone around him. Paradoxically, Turner is lonely, but he is always surrounded by people. He is a jazz artist at the end of his prime, and through his self-destructive habits, Turner can barely function. He cannot feed himself, dress himself or pay his own bills, but brilliantly even if he is drunk and stumbling he is able to still perform on stage in front of an audience. The movie gives the impression that this artist lives for his music, and music or jazz is the only thing that keeps Turner alive.

In conclusion, I thought I would comment on the racial dynamics of the movie a bit. I think that it is interesting that the white man (forgot his name) is taking care of his daughter financially, but her mother will not give him any money to even take care of her. Juxtaposed to the white man and his daughter is Turner who always mentions a daughter but, the audience, never sees her or her mother. Emotionally and financially the white father has decided to take care of his daughter, even though he is struggling, but Turner does not even see his child on a weekly or monthly basis. I understand that Turner is in another country and his time is limited, but he also does not converse with any family members that we know about. It reaffirms the notion of the white man as legitimately responsible, while Turner, the black man, is not responsible with his personally life or his outside responsibilities.

Also, I was also irritated at the limited constructed portrayal of the black woman in this movie. The black woman, who helps Turner, is shown to be loud, rude, abrasive, nosey and controlling. While she helps Turner, she always has an attitude about it. As if Turner is a burden to her, and he may be. But Turner does get home, he has a place to live and he eats, even though the black woman treats him as a child. It seems to echo that, yes, black women are strong providers but in order for them to do so they must emasculate all men especially black men.