Let's Get Lost (film)

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Let's Get Lost

Directed by	Bruce Weber
Produced by	Bruce Weber
Starring	Chet Baker William Claxton Carol Baker Vera Baker Diane Vavra Ruth Young
Release date(s)	September 15, 1988
Running time	120 min
Language	English
IMDb profile

Let's Get Lost (1988) is a documentary about the turbulent life and career of jazz trumpeter Chet Baker. It is named after a song performed by Baker, and recorded on the album Chet Baker Sings and Plays.

The film is essentially a two-hour love letter to its subject (Weber spent about a million dollars of his own money on it). A strange and wonderful group of Baker fans, ranging from ex-associates to ex-wives and children, is assembled to paint a fascinating portrait of a man who was as self-absorbed in life as he was talented on record and stage.

Weber’s film traces the man’s career from the 1950s, when he was in his prime, playing with jazz greats like Charlie Parker and Gerry Mulligan, to the 1980s, when he had become a skid row junkie unable to get a decent gig. By juxtaposing these two decades, Weber presents a sharp contrast between the younger, handsome Baker — the statuesque idol who resembled a dreamy mix of James Dean and Jack Kerouac — to what he became, “a seamy looking drugstore cowboy cum derelict,” as J. Hoberman put it in his Village Voice review.

Let’s Get Lost begins near the end of Baker’s life, on the beaches of Santa Monica, and ends at the glitz and glamour of the Cannes Film Festival. Weber uses these moments in the present as bookends to the historic footage contained in the bulk of the film. This documentation ranges from vintage photographs by William Claxton in 1953 to appearances on The Steve Allen Show and kitschy, low budget Italian films Baker did for quick money. Also included is a hilarious reminiscence by trumpeter Jack Sheldon. Although much of Baker’s past is captured only in still photos, Weber and his director of photography, Jeff Preiss, use creative camera techniques to energize these static pictures in a way that almost brings them lovingly to life.

Debuting at the Toronto International Film Festival, Let's Get Lost was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary, Features in 1989.