Film

I Called Him Morgan

Name: I Called Him Morgan
Genre: Music, Documentary, History
Released: 2016
Cast: Lee Morgan, Helen Morgan, Wayne Shorter, Larry Reni Thomas, Judith Johnson

Biopic

A devastating documentary about Lee Morgan, one of jazz's most gifted trumpeters, and the woman who killed him. Director Kasper Collin weaves archive footage, photographs, and interviews into a portrait of talent, addiction, infidelity, and rage that culminates in a 1972 shooting in a Manhattan bar. It's part love story, part tragedy, entirely unforgettable.

TMDb rating

3.5

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you like jazz films that treat a musician's private life as seriously as his records, and you don't mind old footage doing much of the storytelling.

Skip it if you want the music to carry the evening alone, since this leans on interviews and archive stills more than on complete performances, and its tone stays sombre throughout.

What it asks of you: Ninety-one minutes, unhurried and mostly seated, with a mournful register that keeps returning to the people around them.

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

If you liked this

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The Last Black Man in San Francisco2019

A meditative film about loss, memory, and what it means to belong. Like Morgan's documentary, it uses archival materials and personal history to ask larger questions about identity and place with real grace and sadness.

But Deliberately paced. Some viewers find the philosophical tone slower than they'd like, and the plot doesn't move in traditional ways.

The Last Black Man in San Francisco poster

Miles Ahead2016

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But The narrative structure is intentionally fractured and sometimes confusing. Some jazz purists found the dramatisation of Davis's life disrespectful.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from I Called Him Morgan

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

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The Death of Dick Long2019

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Both films grapple with murder and its aftermath through the perspective of the person who pulled the trigger, forcing us to see them as human rather than monster or villain.

An extraordinary documentary where Indonesian death-squad leaders are asked to recreate their murders for the camera. Director Joshua Oppenheimer does something unprecedented: he uses cinema to confront perpetrators with the weight of what they've done. It's harrowing but essential.

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