They Shot the Piano Player tells the story of what happened to musician Tenório Jr. It’s an animated documentary featuring the voice of Jeff Goldblum as writer Jeff Harris. Harris wrote about music, in particular how the Bossa Nova sound that came out of Brazil in the 1960s and 70s changed music.
As part of his research into Brazil’s influence on music around the world, Harris went to Brazil where he learned about a piano player named Tenório Jr. Tenório was a gifted musician. He worked with some of the greats and would have made a tremendous contribution to music had he lived.

They Shot the Piano Player was told like a mystery. Those times in South America were full of authoritarian regimes in many countries, including Brazil. Tenório left his hotel one night to get something for his girlfriend and never returned.
This was at a time when people were grabbed off the streets by the police, tortured, and killed. After much investigation, Harris concluded that was what happened to Tenório.
Harris talked to many people who knew Tenório. Often the voices used in the documentary were the real people, for example Gilberto Gil and João Gilberto. The drawings for the animation looked similar to the real people. Harris interviewed friends, family, fellow musicians, and anyone else who knew something about what had happened.
Everyone Harris talked with said Tenório was a gifted pianist and musician. He was not political and there was no reason for the police to have pulled him in and shot him.
The film uses whatever language people spoke. There was mostly English, Portuguese, and Spanish. Using the real voices of the real people involved was a bonus.
Obviously, the music was a delight.
You can see They Shot the Piano Player on Netflix.
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