10 Great Films That Already Flew Under The Radar In 2016
3. Born To Be Blue
2016 has been a busy year for Ethan Hawke so far. As well as his starring role in Born To Be Blue, the Hollywood actor has appeared in indie Baseball drama The Phenom and led an ensemble cast including julianne Moore and Travis Fimmel in off-beat rom-com Maggie's Plan.
All three of those films have flown under the radar given the actors involved, though the pick of the bunch as far as a stand-out performance is concerned has to be the semi-factual, semi-fictional Chet Baker biopic, which premiered at the 2015 Toronto Film Festival and got a wide release in March this year.
Hawke's version of the legendary jazz artist shares a name and a number of biographical similarities with the real Chet Baker, though writer/director Robert Budreau merely uses Baker's life as scaffolding for his movie, building a story around it that is set largely in the mid '60s and involves the musician playing himself in a movie about his heroin use.
Hawke has undergone something of a quiet resurgence recently, choosing some smart roles and coming into his own as he embraces his middle age. This particular performance has been dubbed a career-best by a number of critics, lauding him for his impressionistic approach to the life and times of a troubled genius.