Within the movie, a journalist (voiced by Jeff Goldblum) is intrigued listening to an unfamiliar pianist on a Bossa Nova album, and goes down a rabbit gap of looking for out who Tenório Jr was, why he disappeared, and what actually occurred to him.
Initially it was deliberate as a documentary, with Trueba doing tons of of hours of interviews with jazz luminaries like Chico Buarque, João Donato, Edu Lobo, Gilberto Gil, Milton Nascimento, Toquinho, Caetano Veloso, and extra, however the documentary facet developed right into a stylized, creative animated characteristic which mirrors the colourful really feel of the music.
AllMusic spoke with Fernando Trueba concerning the making of the movie, the analysis that went into it, and what he is engaged on subsequent.
AllMusic: Whereas on paper “They Shot the Piano Participant” might be approached as an easy biopic (underappreciated musician is unearthed, the story is revealed, there’s a joyful decision), the movie itself is extra like a detective story—music author “Jeff Harris” makes use of connections, analysis, archived paperwork, and boots-on-the-ground interviews to unearth the story that was both hidden or misattributed for many years. How did you determine on this participating strategy?
Trueba: I prefer to name it a musical-thriller-political-documentary. I take the choice of animation primarily based on my expertise within the meantime with my first animation characteristic, “Chico & Rita“.
A documentary would have been “one other” one a few “desaparecido” (lacking) folks, with quite a lot of shut ups of speaking heads remembering. A standard biopic with actors, I’d by no means imagine, so I believed that animation recreation can be the fairest method to strategy Tenório, his music and his story.
AllMusic: This movie is a deep dive into the world of Bossa Nova and MPB, and music performed an enormous function in “Chico & Rita,” your different movie with artist Javier Mariscal. Is there one thing inherent in these musical types that leads itself to being represented by this distinctive sort of stylized animation?
Trueba: We select very totally different types of animation, even when Mariscal’s fashion is form recognizable. We needed on this one a much less “romantic” strategy, one thing extra “tough”. There are two historic components in “They Shot the Piano Participant.” There have been fully crucial as a result of for understanding Tenório’s story you must know the context (musical principally) of his “look,” the musical revolution in Brazil on the finish of the ’50s and starting of the ’60s. And likewise, the historic and political context of this loss of life, the Argentinian coup d’etat and the Latin-American historical past of that interval. Can be a didactic film. I am positive only a few younger folks know something about all that.
AllMusic: A lot of the analysis within the movie is spent poring over paperwork, whether or not it’s sheet music, information clippings, archival footage, or digging via liner notes on bodily media (LPs and CDs). How necessary do you’re feeling documenting the occasions “as they’re occurring” is to capturing moments for posterity/historical past?
Trueba: Essential. I filmed 135 interviews in Brazil, USA, Spain and France over 2-3 years. They have been the premise for the screenplay.
AllMusic: Did you run into useless ends the place you felt that the details that have been documented in textual content (liner notes, music essays, studio information, and so on) have been incomplete?
Trueba: On a regular basis. There have been holes in every single place—within the recollections of the folks, in the actual details…by no means actually fully clear. There have been many alternative variations, typically contradictory ones.
AllMusic: One among my private highlights from the movie was when the music author Jeff Harris encountered a reputation on a recording he had by no means heard earlier than, and he went straight to AllMusic to dig deeper into this individual’s credit. As a filmmaker, what made you consider AllMusic as a useful resource for getting extra information on this little-known jazz artist?
Trueba: That occurred to me once I was investigating for the story. On the time there was no method to discover the file, and I discovered one in Tokyo, via eBay, in order that’s how I acquired it. It was later reprinted in Brazil, some years later. I am speaking about 2005!
AllMusic: What are you engaged on subsequent? Is it tied to music indirectly?
Trueba: Sure, it’s. I simply completed BAJAÑÍ. Is my second “musical” after “Calle 54.” 100% music, no blablabla in any respect. It is the journey of a flamenco guitar(ist), Niño Josele, in three totally different musical universes: first Flamenco (shot in Spain), secondly Jazz (New York), and the third act in Brazil (São Paulo and Rio). We have now visitor artists similar to Ron Carter, Kenny Barron, Artemis, Caetano Veloso, Rubén Blades, Marisa Monte, and so on… It was an unimaginable expertise for us, a dream made true. And I hope for the viewers shall be too.
“They Shot the Piano Participant” is obtainable on Netflix and different streaming platforms.
