The re-release of Let's Get Lost is simply a gift. Bruce Weber spent six months on the road with Chet Baker in 1987 to catch a glimpse of the enigmatic and ultimately elusive musician. The film noir feel to the documentary is evoked from the beginning with a sublimely beautiful shot of Baker's old and wizened face while sitting in the back of a convertible, his hair dancing in the wind. Even though he is sitting between two beautiful women, one being his partner at the time; Baker's melancholy is evident. With every breath Baker exudes the pain and tribulations of his fifty seven years. It is no mistake he found his home in Jazz, the perfect catharsis and sanctuary for someone of his sensibility.His physical beauty as a young man is perfectly juxtaposed with the changed man we meet in the documentary. Yet even with his gaunt appearance and ambling speech, Baker still possesses a charm and charisma that is uniquely his own. It becomes clear as the documentary progresses that Baker left a lot of pain and heartbreak in his wake. Ex-wives and past girlfriends talk unkindly about him in one breath and praise him in the next. His magnetism was a godsend and a curse in the end.Whatever is said about Baker what is undeniable is his musical prowess. His flair for the trumpet coupled with his beautifully sad voice are an irresistible combination. An appearance at Cannes with Bruce Weber during the opening of one of Weber's documentaries showcases a heartbreaking rendition of 'Almost Blue' at the after party. He silences the baying party goers before beginning and proceeds to close his eyes and expose his soul in front of the audience. It is moments like these that captivate the viewer. Let's Get Lost remains one of the finest musical documentaries ever made, up there with D.A. Pennebaker's 'Don't Look Back'.

I saw this with some friends at the Nuart theatre last night. This doc did have the poignancy that its subject would be dead before it first came out in 1988. Fifty-seven, he could had passed for seventy-seven, the way his skin dried up from all that substance abuse.A fan of jazz, I never had anything of Chet Baker and still hold the opinion that Miles Davis was the premiere trumpeter of the time period. But Baker was listen-able and could be quite good when the mood striked.But he was no good as a family man as his actual family points out. A photographer shows the many pictures he took of him saying he was so photogenic which just struck me as weird.More intriguing was all the photos Baker took of naked women, proof that he was quite a ladies man. One buxom brunette, never really introduced, is one of the hangers on in what would be the last year of his life.I'm not complaining because I adore the young Natalie Wood, but other than Robert Wagner playing a Baker character in 1959, not much reason to show so much of it. Also, a lot of fun was the celebrity pictures taken in the 1950's, trying to figure out who's who, such as Marlene Dietrich, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton in shots.Speaking of snap notes, we're supposed to Baker's baby book and pictures and photographs of him standing next to the Bird, Charley Parker.But it's bittersweet and does serve its purpose, a rare look of Chet Baker as an individual not living up to his initial promise.

I remember seeing and loving this movie when it played at Film Forum in NYC back in the late 80's. It was recently re-released for a limited engagement so I took my wife to see it (again, at Film Forum). Almost twenty years later, it's just as beautiful and heartbreaking to watch. The brilliance of this movie is that you don't have to be jazz or Chet Baker fan to enjoy it -- my wife and I have a marginal interest in jazz and we loved it. It's a brilliant portrayal of how talent, youth and beauty are destroyed by excess, and you'll feel both awe and pity for the late Mr. Baker. DVD is supposed to come out at the end of the year -- rent it, you won't be sorry.

This film is long overdue to be remastered and released on DVD. The VHS transfer seems quite lazily done. The opening title pretty much goes off the screen on my TV. Would love to see this film in all its glory once again.