Bird (1988)

Enjoyed this biopic on the life of jazz great Charlie Parker, directed by Clint Eastwood and with the lead role played brilliantly by Forest Whitaker. The music is excellent throughout (the saxophone parts are taken from Parker recordings and mixed with re-recorded rhythm parts), with the jazz club scene vividly brought to life. The film is a little on the long and slow side, and is fairly depressing -- tracing Parker's unsuccessful struggle against heroin and alcohol addiction and tragically early death in 1955, at the age of 34.