Low Down
Oscilloscope Pictures | Release Date: October 24, 2014 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
58
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 21 Critic Reviews
Positive:
6
Mixed:
13
Negative:
2
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranOct 30, 2014
Low Down is one from the heart. It's a melancholy, evocative, beautifully made memory piece, unblinking and unromanticized, a lovely film that brings great emotion and a dead-on feeling for time, place and recaptured mood to a story that is as universal as it is personal. Read full review
88
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsNov 6, 2014
A tough-minded, empathetic portrait of dreamers on the edge. Read full review
88
RogerEbert.comMatt Zoller SeitzOct 24, 2014
A very good jazz movie and a very good heroin movie, if indeed there's much practical difference between the two modes—and perhaps there isn't. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesMary HoulihanNov 6, 2014
A perfectly cast film that depicts a moody world of jazz musicians, drugs and self-destruction. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleJosh KupeckiNov 12, 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. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Brad WheelerNov 20, 2014
Two jazz films won awards at Sundance this year. One of them was "Whiplash"; the other was Low Down, an expressive but somewhat lacklustre first feature from Jeff Preiss. Neither movie is about jazz. Read full review
60
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzNov 20, 2014
Uplifting, it's not. But Low Down is a worthwhile look at a deeply flawed man, his daughter, and the unusual bond that existed between them. Read full review
60
The New York TimesNicolas RapoldOct 23, 2014
Low Down stumbles into the pitfalls of both addiction narratives and observer-style autobiography, even if Ms. Albany’s memoir suggests even rougher times. But it still catches in-between moments of closeness that aren’t always seen or heard. Read full review
60
Time OutDrew TaylorOct 21, 2014
Fanning manages to bring soulfulness to a character who mostly reacts to others; you just wish the whole movie were, well, jazzier. Read full review
60
The TelegraphAmber WilkinsonJan 27, 2014
The film hinges on the bond between dad and daughter and on the expressive face of Fanning, as we see her shift from a sort of nervous adoration of the unpredictable, if loving, Joe, to something more steely and independent. Read full review
60
VarietyScott FoundasJan 27, 2014
It’s a familiar story of music-world success, failure and addiction, admirably but unevenly told by first-time feature director Jeff Preiss, who certainly knows the music and the milieu, but proves less adept at shaping the material into a consistently compelling narrative. Read full review
58
The A.V. ClubDavid EhrlichOct 23, 2014
Low Down keeps the histrionics to a minimum, but the inertia of a good man failing to be a good father isn’t enough to sustain nearly two hours of reflection, especially when Preiss consistently suggests that telling Amy’s story from Joe’s perspective would have made for a much better film. Read full review
50
Washington PostStephanie MerryNov 6, 2014
It’s appropriately melancholy, and yet there’s a sense that the movie only scratches the surface. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineKenji FujishimaOct 22, 2014
There's only so much that Fanning's vividly expressive face and Hawkes's charismatic sensitivity can mask before we realize how little we truly understand what goes on in anybody's head. Read full review
50
ObserverRex ReedOct 22, 2014
A well-meaning but desultory descent into darkness based on a memoir of the same name by Amy-Jo Albany, daughter of Joe Albany, the great jazz pianist who died in 1988 at age 63. The book, published in 2003, was subtitled Junk, Jazz and Other Fairy Tales From Childhood, and that just about covers it. Read full review
50
Village VoiceMichael NordineOct 21, 2014
There are too many notes that, while not false, are neither satisfactorily resolved nor left interestingly unresolved. Read full review
50
The DissolveMike D'AngeloOct 21, 2014
Fanning and Hawkes are both great actors, but they can only do so much with Low Down’s familiar, monotonous cycle of recovery and relapse. Read full review
40
New York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierOct 23, 2014
Director Jeff Preiss soaks his movie in a brownish retro atmosphere, which helps smooth over the many dull spots, but only briefly. Though his cast is strong even when the movie lags, they often feel like soloists doing their own thing next to each other — always melodic but never truly meshing. Read full review
40
The Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthyJan 27, 2014
Unfortunately, the film never begins to reveal what's really going on inside Joe Albany. Read full review
38
New York PostSara StewartOct 22, 2014
First-time feature director Jeff Preiss has a top-notch duo in John Hawkes, as the affable but troubled Joe, and Elle Fanning as his teen daughter, Amy, but neither can really get out from under the film’s heavy-handed tone, a one-note trip down a bleak memory lane. Read full review
33
The PlaylistRodrigo PerezJan 27, 2014
The film plays nary a note of reprieve and the dank aesthetic does nothing to help the mood. “Low Down” is unequivocally a downer. Read full review
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