The cheeky German film, Köln 75, purports to tell the true story behind a famous musical event, the 1975 solo concert by jazz pianist Keith Jarrett in the West German city of Cologne (Köln), the recording of which went on to become the biggest-selling solo piano LP of all time. Right at the start, there’s a title card telling us this is the story as recalled by the promoter of that concert, Vera Brandes, who was only 18 at the time and, as we soon learn, is not only capable and headstrong, but given to outbursts of inflation when it comes to the facts, so as the movie proceeds merrily along we naturally come to wonder how true some of the details are; which isn’t to say the whole thing feels like a tall tale, but rather that the drama director Ido Fluk chooses to highlight is probably exaggerated. 

The story starts even earlier, with 16-year-old Vera (Mala Emde) sneaking into jazz clubs with her best pal, the beret-sporting socialist Isa (Shirin Lilly Eissa). On a dare, she introduces herself to sax player and famous British club owner Ronnie Scott (Daniel Betts), who is so impressed with Vera’s boldness that he asks her to book his next German tour, something she knows nothing about. When she asks why Scott thinks she is capable of booking a tour for him, he says, “I can’t imagine anybody turning you down.” A promoter is born, and Fluk does a painstaking job of showing exactly how Vera overcomes her lack of business savvy to set up an entire tour for Scott and make some money in the process. Fast forward two years to 1975 when Vera, now modestly established as a local jazz concert promoter, catches Jarrett’s solo performance at the Berlin Jazz Festival and becomes determined to bring him to Cologne for a show at the city’s famed opera house. What seems like a relatively easy gig to arrange—Jarrett does not travel with an entourage or instrument—becomes more trouble than it’s worth, what with the intransigence of the opera house management, which has never held a jazz performance in its venue, and the peculiar personal situation surrounding Jarrett (John Magaro), a moody musician who literally suffers for his art (bad back). The concert becomes not only a test of will for Vera, who is forced to commandeer all her acquaintances not to mention her highly disapproving parents to make it happen, but a huge challenge to Jarrett’s mental health and that of his road manager, ECM Records president Manfred Eicher (Alexander Scheer). That she pulls it off is a small miracle.

Fluk supplements the thriller aspects of the story with some amusing filler that constantly breaks the fourth wall, mostly thanks to American music writer Michael Watts (Michael Chernus), who is on hand to interview the infinitely testy Jarrett and gives a marvelously personal capsule history of jazz improvisation at one point, complete with audio-visual illustrations. Much of what’s entertaining about Köln 75 is made to go a long way and sometimes feels stretched out of proportion, implying that Fluk’s inventiveness is necessary to cover up plot holes and a lack of essential ingredients, such as recordings of Jarrett. For the early scenes of him playing in Berlin Fluk hires a pianist who can passably impersonate Jarrett’s unique solo improvisation style, but for the recreation of the Köln concert he abandons any attempt at verisimilitude and plays Nina Simone’s upbeat version of the Bee Gees’ “To Love Somebody” over the soundtrack as we behold the beaming, tear-streaked faces of the audience being bowled over by Jarrett’s impromptu lyricism. It’s a bit much, but, given the portrait of the pianist painted by the movie, did Fluk ever really believe he would grant the producers permission to use his music?

The protagonist of the Korean film It’s Okay is another headstrong teenage girl. In-yeong (Lee Re) attends a prestigious arts high school in Seoul, where she is a member of the school’s famous dance troupe. Though her single mother was once a member of the same troupe, In-yeong is attending as a scholarship student mainly due to her financial situation, and when her mother dies in a car accident she’s left completely alone because there are no close relatives to take care of her. Though she obviously fears that her sudden orphan status will force her removal from the school, in a larger way In-yeong just doesn’t want to be controlled, and so she continues living alone in her rental house, dodging social services who come looking in on her every so often. When the landlord finally kicks her out due to non-payment of rent, she moves her things clandestinely into a storage room at school, where she spends the nights, but her secret is eventually uncovered.

All the while, she navigates the usual rocky high school journey, but of course it isn’t usual because of her membership in the dance troupe, where she’s constantly bullied for being a charity case. This is typical teen melodrama material, but what makes It’s Okay! different is In-yeong herself. She never suffers her tormentors—she doesn’t fight back in a purely physical way but instead refuses to acknowledge her interlocutors’ complaints and digs. She shrugs at their insults, deflecting them with her couldn’t-care-less attitude and in the end they have no choice but to give up in the face of her refusal to take them seriously. In this regard, the movie has something vital to say, not only about resilience but remaining happy under trying circumstances. But that isn’t enough for writer-director Kim Hye-young, who introduces a new character in the second half that completely changes the emotional tack of the movie. Former dancer Seol-ah (Jin Seo-yeon) is appointed as the head choreographer for the troupe and proves to be the stereotypical hardass taskmaster. Having been part of the troupe herself when In-seong’s mother was a member, she admires the girl’s pluck and, once she figures out her material situation, invites her to live in her luxurious apartment with her, where In-yeong invariably acts up in order to deal with her feelings of being condescended to because of that material situation. Sparks fly as mentor and mentee cope with the troupe’s upcoming 60th anniversary performance, which Seol-ah was hired to oversee. The conflict leads to a kind of entropy, with Seol-ah learning how to relax and In-yeong figuring out how to dislodge that chip from her shoulder.

As a teen drama, It’s Okay! is better than average, though the second half, clearly designed to be as edifying as possible, is less tolerable than the first, where In-yeong’s native pluckiness wins you over immediately. It’s nice to see a young person in a Korean movie put up with the bad hand life has dealt them with intelligence and humor rather than self-pity and despair. All that good faith work is thrown out in the latter part of the movie.

Köln 75, in German and English, now playing in Tokyo at Shinjuku Piccadilly (050-6861-3011), Human Trust Cinema Yurakucho (03-6259-8608), Yebisu Garden Cinema (0570-783-715).

It’s Okay!, in Korean, now playing in Tokyo at Shinjuku Piccadilly (050-6861-3011).

Köln 75 home page in Japanese

It’s Okay! home page in Japanese

Köln 75 photo (c) Wolfgang Ennenbach/One Two Films

It’s Okay! photo (c) 2023 Twomen Film