Köln you dig it?
How do you make a film about Keith Jarrett’s legendary 1975 concert without access to any of his music?
Make do and mend: John Magaro as Keith Jarrett; (inset) Mala Emde as Vera Brandes and director Ido Fluk
WOLFGANG ENNENBACH; GERALD MATZKA GETTY IMAGES; MICHAEL OCHS ARCHIVES GETTY IMAGES
PLENTY of music biopics are unable to use songs by the artists they depict. Some, like the 2020 Bowie-related movieStardust, struggle as a result; others, likeBackbeatorNowhere Boy, find ways to tell a more introspective tale. “For me, it was a beautiful obstacle to overcome,” says Ido Fluk, the Israeli writer and director ofKöln 75, which dramatises the events surrounding Keith Jarrett’s famous Köln Concert without being able to feature a single note of his music. “It’s about this legendary concert where a pianist has to improvise for an hour on a broken piano. As artists, the creative process is often about dealing with obstructions and obstacles. Telling this story without using any of the original music was our broken piano.”