Viewers captivated by Tyler Perry‘s newest movie, Straw, ought to stay round and stream his acclaimed 2022 interval drama A Jazzman’s Blues on Netflix. Granted, the latter is nowhere close to as psychologically punishing as the previous. However each films about household and motherhood depend on a vital third-act plot twist that forces viewers to reexamine every part that got here earlier than it. By the top of every story, the protagonists be taught and reveal way more about themselves that can change their lives ceaselessly.
Moreover, each of the stunning plot twists revolve round a household secret that the protagonist should navigate. Nevertheless, one twist comes as a sobering actuality, whereas the opposite turns into a whimsical projection from the primary character’s thoughts. With sturdy performances anchoring every movie, these captivated by the occasions in Straw are positive to react favorably to A Jazzman’s Blues, Tyler Perry’s most lauded movie to this point.
‘Straw’s Interesting Premise Is Drawing Tyler Perry Followers to Netflix
Debuting on Netflix on June 6, 2025, Tyler Perry’s psychological drama, Straw, immediately shot to the highest of the U.S. viewing charts. Taraji P. Henson provides a chic efficiency as Janiyah, a single mom to an sick daughter named Aria. In a basic case of Murphy’s Regulation, every part that may go incorrect does go incorrect for Janiyah, as she is topic to 1 punishing indignity after one other. Her arduous luck begins with an eviction from her rundown tenement, shedding her dead-end job, and probably Aria to Little one Protecting Companies.
The extra Janiyah tries to show her life round and forge a greater existence for Aria, the more serious off she turns into till she reaches a violent breaking level. Though the film has been criticized for trafficking in exploitative stereotypes, victimization tropes, and emotional manipulation, a considerable plot twist reveals the story to be considered one of psychological trauma and psychological well being.
Those that’ve seen Straw know precisely how the plot twist impacts Janiyah’s mindset; Aria died the night time earlier than the occasions of the movie transpire, along with her mom’s grief, ache, and despair impacting her thoughts to the purpose of hallucination. Janiyah proves to be an unreliable narrator, with figments of her creativeness projecting fantasies that don’t happen in actuality. This has divided audiences, with Perry’s penchant for unsubtle melodrama interesting to some and revolting others. Minus the hallucination, A Jazzman’s Blues additionally is determined by a shocking third-act revelation that alters viewers’ views.
‘A Jazzman’s Blues’ Additionally Is determined by a Third-Act Plot Twist
Tyler Perry wrote A Jazzman’s Blues in 1995 as his first screenplay. The story begins in 1987 and facilities on Hattie Mae (Amirah Vann and Daphne Maxwell Reid), an aged girl out to establish her son’s killer. 40 years after Hattie’s son, Bayou (Joshua Boone), was lynched in 1947, she goes to Jonathan Dupree (Kario Marcel) to open an investigation. Dupree is the Legal professional Common in Georgia who reluctantly takes the case and devotes his sources to discovering Bayou’s killer.
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The film shifts forwards and backwards between the current in 1987 and the previous in 1947, depicting Bayou’s good-hearted nature and musical genius, who lives in a household of gifted jazz musicians. Bayou falls in love with a girl named Leanne Harper (Solea Pfeiffer), whom he plans to run away with to Chicago after her grandfather disapproves of their relationship. The 2 forbidden lovers are separated when Bayou is drafted, though they proceed to correspond through letter and hold their romance afloat via hopeful communication.
Leanne’s letters immediate Hattie to open an investigation into Bayou’s lynching, which results in a stunning plot twist involving Jonathan Dupree. With out spoiling the massive revelation, the twist recontextualizes the occasions that preceded it, shifting viewers’ perspective in related methods to Straw. Though each movies drip with juicy melodrama, A Jazzman’s Blues is a extra satisfying product that proves Perry’s directorial expertise.
‘A Jazzman’s Blues’ Is Arguably Tyler Perry’s Finest Film To Date
As a passionate labor of affection, A Jazzman’s Blues has been hailed as Tyler Perry’s most achieved film to this point. Not like Straw, which was filmed in a slapdash 4 days, A Jazzman’s Blues took a month to movie all through Savannah, Georgia, and on the heaps and levels of Tyler Perry Studios in Atlanta. With extra time, care, and craft poured into the primary screenplay he wrote as an aspiring filmmaker, A Jazzman’s Blues ascends to a stage of status that usually eludes Perry’s broadly interesting Madea films, for instance.
Boasting the very best crucial marks of his filmography to this point, A Jazzman’s Blues holds a 67% Rotten Tomatoes score and a 62 Metascore. Between the wealthy interval element of 1947 and 1987 Georgia, the very good musical renditions carried out by the forged, and the commentary Tyler makes in regards to the racial tensions in America then versus now could be dealt with with a deft subtlety missing from Straw. In channeling the melodramatic excellence of Douglas Sirk, Tyler courts much less polarizing controversy and delivers a really shifting story about household and legacy.
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Given its stark themes and significant reception, those that loved Straw will undoubtedly reply to A Jazzman’s Blues. The film reveals Perry at his most skillful, mature, and absolutely shaped as a filmmaker. The best way he retains the central homicide thriller in focus because the story strikes forwards and backwards to indicate Bayou’s upbringing, musical acumen, romance, wartime experiences, and the influence they’ve on Hattie is extra adroit than something he has carried out earlier than.
A Jazzman’s Blues could not characteristic the powerhouse efficiency by Henson or an A-list actor to match her depth, however it does almost every part extra successfully than Straw, together with the ultimate twist. Those that appreciated how Perry misdirected viewers with Straw’s stunning revelation will likely be much more impressed by A Jazzman’s Blues’ provocative closing secret. Moderately than feeling duped, viewers are sure to be awed. In each instances, Perry is aware of how one can drop the mic with a jaw-dropping finale that makes viewers reassess the whole story, suppose lengthy and arduous about what they’ve simply witnessed, and decide up the emotional tatters lengthy after the credit roll. Straw and A Jazzman’s Blues can be found to stream on Netflix.