Jazz isn't just a style, it's a musical mood, and 'Low Down' gets right in there.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Oct 24, 2021

It's disappointing that Low Down unspools toward the end, since the first half is filled with great characters and a smart script. Like Amy's character herself, the film is astute in some ways and overwhelmingly awkward in others.

| Jan 22, 2021

A rather unremarkable treatment of a slipping down life, bright lights dimmed by the self-induced depravity of drugs and alcohol.

| Original Score: 2.5/5 | Sep 6, 2019

Certainly one of the best biopics of an artist I have seen in a long time.

| Aug 28, 2018

As a biopic, though, [Low Down] is both too much and too little.

| Aug 3, 2017

Music, heroin, and fatherhood on the fringe

| Jul 31, 2015

John Hawkes, a really fine actor, gives a towering performance in this film. He is as good in this film as any actor I've seen this year, including all those guys nominated for all the 2014 top awards.

| Original Score: B | Feb 2, 2015

A must-see for a very particular audience.

Full Review | Jan 23, 2015

"Low Down" is episodic, and the spiral goes straight down. It's tough to take -- there's a lot that's not right about Albany's life, except love and sweet music.

| Original Score: B | Nov 21, 2014

Somewhere over the rainbow the skies are blue, that's the dream. Some make it, some don't - this eloquent daughter's tale shows both sides.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Nov 21, 2014

Gets stuck in a cycle of addiction and morning-after regret while missing a chance to explore the how and why of its characters.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Nov 20, 2014

"Low Down" nicely evokes a smokey mood of '50s jazz and Hollywood noir and deserves points for its emotional straightforwardness, but its tired story and deliberate pace never really draw you in.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Nov 20, 2014

Whiplash is like one of those Buddy Rich solos the kid idolizes: hot, sweaty and in-your-face. Low Down is like the version of Billy Strayhorn's Lush Life played in one of this film's club scenes: somber, moody and cool to the touch.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Nov 20, 2014

The acting makes it a far more compelling ride than it otherwise would have been.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Nov 20, 2014

Has a specific glaze that's certainly tended to by director Jeff Preiss, but rarely does it hit a note of profundity that revives interest in the gradual unraveling of an irresponsible man.

| Original Score: C | Nov 14, 2014

Fanning's performance rescues the film from mediocrity.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Nov 14, 2014

It's not at all pretty. But it dazzles in the darkness in its dizzying bid to find the light.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Nov 13, 2014

Low Down is a wonderful downer of a film that fits quite comfortably on the video-store shelf between Barfly and Drugstore Cowboy. That said, depending on your proclivity for plunging into the cinematic depths of despair, your mileage may vary.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Nov 13, 2014

Low Down is rich in vivid characters.

| Nov 10, 2014

Perhaps the real trouble is this: the chief relationship here is between a man and his needle; everybody else is just a problem to be forgotten while high.

| Original Score: 1/5 | Nov 7, 2014