Rewind & Play

Gomis’ film features long, uninterrupted passages of Monk playing the studio’s grand piano, and they are the meat and marvel of the film...

A film that ought to appeal to fans of Thelonious Monk -- but even if you don't know him, you should watch it anyway because everyone should be a fan of Thelonious Monk.

In the stretches when Monk is playing, he gets to be exactly who he is, his exhilarating music doing the talking, his exquisite dissonance suddenly more revelatory than perhaps intended.

In Rewind & Play, Alain Gomis re-edits an interview jazz pianist Thelonius Monk gave on French TV in the 1960s to expose the sneering racism of the host.