“His music is beautiful, precise, delicate… his life is a fucking disaster”
by Ana Stanic
BERLINALE 2026: The British director, known for his music documentaries, brings jazz legend Bill Evans to the screen, capturing the fragile sensibility behind artistic achievement
Grant Gee, known for his music documentaries, brings jazz legend Bill Evans to the screen in his first fiction feature Everybody Digs Bill Evans [+see also:
film review
interview: Grant Gee
film profile], selected in competition at the 76th Berlinale. Adapted by Owen Martell from Peter Pettinger’s biography How My Heart Sings, the film centres on Evans’ life after the devastating loss of his bass player and musical soulmate Scott LaFaro. Rather than focusing only on the music, the film captures the fragile sensibility behind artistic achievement. The black-and-white sixties scenes shift into colour images from later years, while sudden experimental flashes suggest the hazy euphoria of heroin and music. Norwegian actor Anders Danielsen Lie, well known for his repeated collaborations with Joachim Trier, portrays Evans with restrained, sensitive precision.
