When an music-loving, Oscar-winning director finds himself intrigued by the disappearance of a wildly talented young piano player, what follows is a hunt for answers – and eventually, a colourful, music-filled animated movie.
Variety calls it "a love letter to the bossa nova movement that peaked in the 1960s", and it features a brace of musical talent, including Brazilian lyricist, poet and singer Vinícius de Moraes ('The Girl from Ipanema'), Tom Jobim and João Gilberto (both key figures in the birth of bossa nova), singer and activist Caetano Veloso and Aretha Franklin.
They Shot the Piano Player takes us to 2010. New York journalist Jeff Harris (voiced by Jeff Goldblum, who in addition to his acting is also a jazz pianist, with his band's fifth album released this year) is researching a book on bossa nova, the musical movement that came to life in Brazil in the late 1950s, and would influence other musical styles around the world.
Jeff Goldblum is the voice of journalist Jeff Harris in 'They Shot the Piano Player'. Credit: Sony Pictures
While researching the book, Harris comes across a musician he's not heard of, young Brazilian piano virtuoso Tenorio Jr. Yet despite his early promise, he seems lost to time, recording no music for the past 30 years. When Harris travels to Rio De Janiero as part of his research for the book, he discovers Tenório disappeared in the Argentinan capital, Buenos Aires, while on tour.
It's a story arc that echoes that of the film's multi-ward winning co-director, Spaniard Fernando Trueba, who won an Academy Award in 1994 forBelle Epoque, and has also won multiple awards as a music producer.
"I like jazz. I like Brazilian music. About four years ago, while listening to a Brazilian album from the 1960s, the piano caught my attention. I looked at the album cover and found a name that meant nothing to me: Tenório Jr." Trueba explains.
Co-directors Fernando Trueba (left) and Javier Mariscal. Credit: Elena Claverol
"I tried to learn more about him, if he had any albums under his name as a leader. Yes, in 1966, when he was 25 years old, he recorded an album called 'Embalo', but it had been out of print for a long time. Almost 40 years had passed. What had he done since then? What had become of him?," says Trueba.
"Through the Internet, I discovered that he had collaborated on various albums with different artists: Milton Nascimento, Gal Costa, Egberto Gismonti, among others, but the latest ones were from 1975. It had been 30 years.
He simply vanished ... the night after the last concert, he went out into the street and no=one ever saw him again.
"That was when I stumbled upon his story. Tenório died in March '76, at the age of 35. Actually, it cannot be said that he died. He simply vanished. He was in Buenos Aires accompanying Vinicius de Moraes and Toquinho. The night after the last concert, he went out to the street, and no one ever saw him again.
"I couldn't believe it. A Brazilian pianist who disappears in Argentina? Why? I tried to find out more. Tenório went out to buy a sandwich... some say cigarettes, others medication, others...
"It was 2 am on March 18th. Six days before the military coup. But the coup on the 24th was only the official culmination of something that had been on the streets for a while.
"The regime of Isabelita Perón was taking its last breaths, and in the streets of Buenos Aires, military groups, paramilitaries and extreme left-wing Peronist guerrillas were waging a silent, undeclared war. Gunshots, bombs, murders, the first 'disappearances'...
"But what did all that have to do with a pianist? With a Brazilian pianist?"
'They Shot the Piano Player. Credit: Sony Pictures
Trueba is referring to the 1976 coup that saw the overthrow of the Argentinian government and the establishment of a harsh military dictatorship, in a period of turmoil in South America that had also seen a military coup in Brazil in 1964.
"Tenório's disappearance left Brazilian musicians bewildered. They all think it must be a mistake. Tenório is a person with no known political activism. They all believed it was just a matter of days before Tenório reappeared.
"That's what everyone in Rio de Janeiro hoped for. Especially one person, Carmen Cerqueira, Tenório's wife. They had four children, and Carmen was eight months pregnant with their fifth.
"Finally, I managed to obtain a copy of 'Embalo', that had been reissued in Japan. The album is fantastic. Some of Brazil's greatest musicians play on it: Paulo Moura, Raúl de Souza, Milton Banana, J.T. Meirelles... When the album was recorded, Tenório hadn't even turned 24 yet. At that time, he was still a medical student who, at night, revolutionised Brazil's music (meaning, the world's music) in some of the bars of the now legendary and disappeared 'Beco das Garrafas' (Alley of Bottles), where musicians gathered for endless jam sessions that shaped the Brazilian variant of jazz: 'Samba-jazz', the instrumental aspect of Bossa Nova.
"Tom Jobim, João Gilberto, Baden Powell, Sergio Mendes, Luiz Eça, Deodato, etc... are some of the major players in a golden age that put Brazilian music at the forefront of the world's music. Tenório Júnior, along with Luiz Eça and João Donato, formed the triumvirate of great Brazilian pianists.
'They Shot the Piano Player' celebrates the origins of bossa nova alongside the loss of a vibrant talent. Credit: Sony Pictures
"After more than 150 hours of interviews with people directly connected to Tenório, one day I decide to start writing the script for They Shot the Piano Player. I choose animation as the most suitable language to recreate his life, his music and his era."
The decision to opt for animation saw Trueba team up with Javier Mariscal, the pair having worked together on 2010's Chico & Rita, which won multiple awards and scored an Oscar nomination for Best Animated Film. Mariscal, a multi-disciplinary artist, has worked in everything from furniture design to the creation of the official mascot for the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.
"My specialty is being creative, innovative, stretching the language, trying to evolve codes, signs, and graphic messages. Bring them up to date. Listening, being a sponge, observing, capturing in images what society breathes, what we believe in, what excites us and the ideas that are changing," Mariscal says.
He, too, felt animation was the best way to tell Tenorio's story.
"...with animation, we give a life again to Tenorio. If it was with an actor all the time you’d say, 'Uh, this actor tried to be Tenorio. If it’s a drawing: 'It’s Tenorio! He’s playing!' He has a life," Mariscal told animation.scoop.om.
The results is a vibrant story that's part documentary, part drama and a delight for music lovers.
This is an edited version of material supplied by Sony Pictures.
They Shot the Piano Player is streaming at SBS On Demand.
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They Shot the Piano Player
