The Legend of 1900 (1998)

Netflix gives the length of this Italian-made English-language film as 170 minutes, while IMDb gives it as 165 -- until you poke around the latter site and find that the international version runs 123. When I watched, the end credits stopped at 125. That annoyed me, as I'd set it aside for a time that I could afford (and stand) to watch another 45 minutes, but it beats the opposite confusion.

Anyway, the title refers to Danny Boodmann T.D. Lemons 1900 (played in adulthood by Tim Roth), named by an eccentric stoker (Bill Nunn) who found him abandoned in infancy on an ocean liner on January 1, 1900. The stoker decides to raise him right there on the ship, hiding him from authorities for the time being. Even after his de facto godfather's death, 1900, who rarely goes by any other name, opts to stay on board at all times, a boy/man without a country or much else. What he does have in abundance is piano talent, which gets him the attention needed to become a legend. The narrator for most of the movie is a trumpet player, Max (Pruitt Taylor Vince), who knew 1900 for years.

The setup is so improbable that it evokes a comedy, but IMDb does not list comedy among its genres. Indeed, the predictable ending is rather tragic. Even Max, while telling the story, is down on his luck.

Roth does not actually know how to play the piano, but he fakes it well enough to keep me wondering. 1900 specializes in original jazz, leading to a fanciful confrontation with a nasty Jelly Roll Morton himself. I should mention that the film's composer is a legend in his own right: Ennio Morricone. Truly, the music is the greatest selling point.

Alas, by a similar token, that talent is about all that 1900 has going for him. I expected him to be naive, not least because his prime educator is neither intellectual nor very honest. I shouldn't be surprised at his moments of rudeness, tho the fairly frequent swearing in a movie set in the early 20th century with no sex and little violence still jars me. (I suspect that the filmmakers wanted an R rating to draw more adults and fewer bored kids.) I accept his hard-to-place accent as a result of exposure to Americans and various flavors of Europeans.

But I must conclude that he is also stupid and/or crazy, with a dash of cowardice. He makes several key decisions that don't quite make sense to me even after explanation. No wonder we get mostly Max's POV. In the end, I question the overall philosophy if not the ethos of the filmmakers. (This was not a problem when I watched same director Giuseppe Tornatore's Cinema Paradiso.) The plot structure may be poetic, but if 1900 can say after the duel, "F*** jazz," then I can say in this instance, "F*** poetry."

I notice a considerable discrepancy between IMDb voters (8.1) and Rotten Tomatoes critics (54%). Guess these things happen when a film defies genre conventions. My vote falls somewhere in between. Originality counts for something, but I am glad not to have gotten the long version.