Sound Unseen 2009

Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench is about the often uneasy but always beautiful relationship between music and love. It tells the story of a young Boston jazz musician who drifts from affair to affair, his trumpet the only constant in his life. He makes a promising connection with an aimless introvert named Madeline, who immediately takes to his music. Their relationship is cut short, however, when Guy leaves her for another, more outgoing love interest. The two separated lovers slowly wind their way back into each other’s lives, through a series of romances and near-romances punctuated by song.

A full-fledged musical that recasts the MGM tradition in a gritty, near-documentary style, Guy and Madeline stars Jason Palmer, recently named by Down Beat Magazine one of the top twenty-five “Trumpeters for the Future,” and features all original music composed by Justin Hurwitz and recorded by the Bratislava Symphony Orchestra. The film was shot on black-and-white 16mm and also features Desiree Garcia, Sandha Khin, Andre Hayward (trombonist with Betty Carter, the Dave Holland Big Band, and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra), and Kelly Kaleta (cast member of Imagine Tap).