Starred review from June 1, 2022
One can easily make the argument that musician, songwriter, and actor Tom Waits is the consummate chronicler of down-and-out life in Los Angeles. Producer, director, and critic Harvey describes the busy first decade of Waits' idiosyncratic career and his nine Los Angeles-themed albums, from Closing Time and Nighthawks at the Diner to Heartattack and Vine and Swordfishtrombones. Waits was influenced by Charles Bukowski, Edward Hopper, Ed Ruscha, Bob Dylan, Carson McCullers, Flannery O'Connor, Damon Runyon, Nathanael West, Nelson Algren, and, especially, the jazz poetry of Jack Kerouac, supplemented by strong elements of 1940s film noir and pulp fiction. Waits created a whiskey-soaked, skid-row stage persona that matched his musical portraits of drunks, misfits, outcasts, and other late-night denizens of L.A.'s diners and motels, those classic American places of "transience and seedy assignations." From a young age, he worked a string of dead-end jobs, including bartending, changing tires, washing dishes, and driving taxis. He commemorated many of the people he met on the street in his songs. Harvey also acknowledges Waits' underrated acting career, from Robert Altman's Short Cuts to Jim Jarmusch's Coffee and Cigarettes, and the Coen Brothers' The Ballad of Buster Scruggs. Beautifully written, Song Noir is a fascinating and compelling read featuring striking and evocative black-and-white photographs.
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