The Last Hot Lick

Hot licks refers to the flaming fingers of a musician. Is this still the case for Jack, a debonair but stubborn individual approaching seventy, still on the road? The title and a number of clues early on do not conceal the film’s funereal tone: we soon learn that only death could put a stop to this infinite tour, criss-crossing the landscapes and harbours of Americana. Jack meets a mysterious woman: two solitudes and trajectories are aligned, but while her voice lights up a room, there is a secretive and dark side to her. The Last Hot Lick seems to adjust to the folk ballad in filmic terms, a harmonic form made of themes and choruses, whose emotion stems from the aptness of its interpretation and the relationships between the chords. (Arnaud Hée)