Everybody Digs Bill Evans, 2026.
Directed by Grant Gee.
Starring Anders Danielsen Lie, Bill Pullman, Barry Ward, and Laurie Metcalf.
SYNOPSIS:
Legendary jazz pianist Bill Evans forms his perfect trio, recording two ground-breaking albums. When his brilliant young bassist dies tragically, Evans is devastated. The story follows Evans’ journey to overcome grief and return to music.
Bill Evans is one of the most celebrated jazz musicians of the 20th century, having led a brilliant career in his own right and played on seminal records like Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue. His life story is perhaps not as widely celebrated as other jazz greats. A portion of his story now gets the biopic treatment in Everybody Digs Bill Evans, taking its title from one of his best loved records. We follow Evans (Anders Danielsen Lie) in the aftermath of his Village Vanguard shows, which resulted in two highly acclaimed live albums. Just as Evans was hitting his creative peak, his bassist Scott LaFaro died aged 25.
Having premiered in competition at Berlin Film Festival, it won the Silver Bear award for Best Director. Grant Gee has built a reputation as a formidable documentary filmmaker with films charting Radiohead and Joy Division. Here he shows a natural at feature filmmaking in a familiar area although covering music of a very different kind.
The bulk of the film follows Evans in somewhat of a funk following LaFaro’s death, unable to play in the way he used, reclusive and withdrawn. It’s a quiet reserved performance from Danielsen Lie, a completely different kind of role to his collaborations with Joachim Trier on the likes of The Worst Person in the World or Reprise. It is less a celebration of Evan’s musical genius and more a reflection on the human spirit and how loss can affect anyone in such a profound way.
The vast majority is striking black and white with effective flashes forward to the latter days of Evan’s life in bright colour. The latter period deals with his own eventual death, following his brother’s in 1979. This period strikingly mirroring the earlier part of the story.
Anders Danielsen Lie does a lot of heavy lifting in what can at times be a dark, insular film. Grant Gee’s creative direction and the juxtaposition of the two eras keeps this from feeling stale. It shines a light at a figure who has perhaps never quite caught the public consciousness in the way some of his peers did. It captures the troubled genius, grappling demons that he ultimately never outran.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★
Chris Connor
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=embed/playlist
