The film is carried by the performance of Ethan Hawke, a performance that understands Baker's appeal, Baker's demons and eventual unwillingness to fight those demons...

...his weathered pretty-boy face fits the troubled trumpeter-vocalist’s legend to a T; in a delicate performance, he emotes subtle notes of tragedy and manipulation through a wheezy, upper-register voice.

...about the troubled jazz trumpeter Chet Baker, shown making a tempestuous career comeback in the 1960s.

I de yngre år placerede Hawkes sarte udstråling ham i rollen som den sjælfulde knægt, og det er samme energi, han spiller på her.

Ethan Hawk (...) gives another first-class performance as legendary jazz trumpeter Chet Baker, a role he’d longed to play since he was a teenager.