Stylish, brash, and unusual at times, the 2025 German film “Koln ‘75” injects some life into a moribund genre: fictional features based on real-life rock stars or musical events. It tells the tale of about how teenage concert promoter Vera Brandes booked (despite a variety of obstacles) Keith’s Jarrett’s exalted “Koln Concert,” a completely improvised one-hour performance that became the biggest-selling solo jazz album in history.

After the dullish results of such entries as Bob Marley: One Love, Bruce Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere and Back to Black (the Amy Winehouse misfire, 35% on Rotten Tomatoes) the freewheeling enthusiasm of “Koln 75” is like a blinding ray of sunshine after a month of overcast days. A lot of this is due to the focus on the precocious Brandes (played by an effervescent Mala Emde) and her equally spirited friends. I will venture to say that a Keith Jarrett biopic would not have been as fun, although the brooding pianist (played by American actor John Magaro, below) is a notable presence, esp. in his scene with Brandes.

For a little background, Keith Jarrett had been doing his solo recitals across Europe, just him and his manager, travelling in that type of car you see there that is built for neither comfort nor speed. He was in physical pain, wearing a back brace, and having trouble sleeping and eating. But when Vera sees Keith perform his majestic improvisations at a West Berlin jazz fest, the teen has both a musical revelation and a more practical one. Though she was already booking local shows for the London-based Ronnie Scott Trio, Brandes was under intense pressure from her tyrannical father to give up her bohemian ways and go into the family business—dentistry.

Don’t expect much Jarrett music in “Koln 75” aside from the few minutes where a mesmerized Brandes watches the maestro in Berlin. Here is the concluding segment from the actual show.

She figures that pulling off a show at her hometown opera house by a renowned pianist who she intuitively knew was onto something special would prove she had the chops to make it in the business. That she was able to do this (later becoming a prolific producer and music researcher) despite multiple snafus gives the movie its manic energy that resembles at times both “24 Hour Party People” and fellow German film “Run Lola Run.”

Seemingly faced with the prospect of offering Jarrett the hall’s sub-standard rehearsal piano, the unusual late-night starting time (after that night’s opera performance) and Jarrett’s physical issues, “Koln 75” kicks into comic high gear as Vera chases down piano tuners and desperately tries to whip up publicity. When Jarrett refuses to play on the busted-ass baby grand, he and Vera have a climatic clash of wills, where the girl boldly stands up to him by saying “I have a lot of experience with narcissistic men.” (Probably referring to her vain and cruel father who, according to the film’s framing device, didn’t appreciate his successful daughter even into middle age).

Like a lot of other based-on-a-true-story movies, some of this may be embellishment: other accounts say that Jarrett’s ultimate decision to go on was because the recording equipment was already set up. Sure, “Koln 75” is a crowd pleaser. It is also one not afraid to show some dark edges and to wear its heart on its sleeve when showing the determination (and sometimes just dumb luck) that goes into making your own little bit of history.

Koln 75–Directed by Ido Fluk–2025–117 minutes

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