Film

Chasing Trane

Name: Chasing Trane
Genre: Documentary, Music
Released: 2017
Cast: Denzel Washington, Antonia Andrews, Bill Clinton, Michelle Coltrane, Oran Coltrane

Musical

A spiritual portrait of John Coltrane, the saxophonist who pushed jazz into uncharted territory. Director John Coltrane Jr. assembles interviews, archive footage, and Denzel Washington's narration into a meditation on how one musician's relentless search for transcendence changed music forever. For anyone moved by innovation, ambition, or the artist's eternal hunger.

TMDb rating

3.7

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you already love the sound of a horn and want to hear how one restless musician's ideas rippled outward, through recordings and the family memories of those closest to him.

Skip it if you want a deep dive into the technical theory of his playing, since this leans reverent, more tribute than analysis, and keeps its eye on admiration.

What it asks of you: At ninety-nine minutes, it moves at an unhurried pace, leaning on long stretches of music and reflective talk rather than dramatic plot.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Miles Ahead2016

Don Cheadle plays Miles Davis with volcanic intensity in this stylised biopic that treats the trumpet legend's life as a mystery to solve, mixing narrative drama with explosive performances and genuine discovery.

But It's more impressionistic than chronological, and some will find the non-linear storytelling frustrating rather than illuminating.

The Last Temptation of Christ1988

Scorsese's Coltrane-adjacent film explores spiritual searching through obsession and transgression. Like Coltrane's music, it asks uncomfortable questions about devotion, doubt, and the transcendent impulse.

But It's deliberately blasphemous and three hours long. Religious viewers will find it provocative; the uncommitted may find it exhausting.

Synecdoche, New York2008

Kaufman's labyrinthine film about an artist constructing an impossible replica of life shares Coltrane's obsession with capturing something ineffable through painstaking, maddening creation.

But It's deliberately obscure and emotionally punishing. The narrative collapses into abstraction, which many find alienating rather than profound.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Chasing Trane

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

The Holy Mountain1973

Two visionaries refusing accessibility in pursuit of something beyond entertainment—the sacred impulse that rejects comfort and clarity.

Jodorowsky's surrealist mystical odyssey shares Coltrane's spiritual restlessness and rejection of commercial form. Both are searching for transcendence through discipline and transgression, image and sound as vehicles for the ineffable.

But It's genuinely bizarre and deliberately difficult—graphic imagery, no conventional narrative, entirely uncompromising. Many will find it pretentious or unwatchable.

'Round Midnight1986

Dexter Gordon's only film role as an aging jazz saxophonist captures the loneliness and grace of the jazz life with documentary-level authenticity. A quiet masterpiece about artistic decline and dignity.

But There's little plot and no redemption arc. It's a mood piece that some will find beautifully melancholy and others simply depressing.

Stalker1979

Both artists refuse to simplify the search for meaning; both insist their audience surrender to duration, repetition, and mystery as the price of transcendence.

Tarkovsky's meditative science-fiction film about a journey toward a mysterious, unreachable goal mirrors Coltrane's spiritual quest musically. Both refuse easy answers, both demand transformation from their audience through patience and repetition.

But It's deliberately slow and visually austere. At 163 minutes, it requires surrender; viewers who think film should move or entertain will be tormented.