Tyler Perry’s ‘A Jazzman’s Blues’ on Netflix Will Make You Cry Harder Than ‘The Notebook’

An epic, tragic romance is probably the last thing you’d expect from Tyler Perry, a filmmaker best known for donning a gray-haired wig, a stuffed bra, and a floral dress. But Perry’s latest film, A Jazzman’s Blues—which began streaming on Netflix today—is about as opposite from Madea as you could get. If you thought The Notebook made you teary, watch out. Tyler Perry is coming for Nicholas Sparks’s crown.

An original script from Perry—the first screenplay he ever wrote, in fact, back in 1995—A Jazzman’s Blues is a sweeping love story set in the deep south in the 1930s and ’40s. A young Black man named Bayou (played by newcomer Joshua Boone) falls head over heels for a light-skinned girl named LeAnne (Solea Pfeiffer. Everyone calls LeAnne “Bucket,” a mean nickname that refers to the way she was abandoned by her mother like “an empty bucket” to live with her grandfather, who rapes and abuses her on the regular.

Bayou and LeAnne fall fast and hard for each other, making plans to someday run away together. But the affair is abruptly cut short when LeAnne’s mother suddenly returns to take her up north, giving her no choice in the matter. Bayou writes to her daily, but Mom makes sure all the letters are returned to sender. By the time Bayou sees LeeAnne again, she has assumed a new identity as a white woman and is engaged to be married to a wealthy, white politician.

Without getting into spoilers, Bayou and LeAnne seem to have the entire world working against them, despite how much they love each other. It’s a very similar vibe to the doomed romance in The Notebook—the 2005 movie adapted from the bestselling Nicholas Sparks novel—but unlike Noah and Allie, the stakes for these two star-crossed lovers are quite literally life or death. It’s not just timing and circumstance keeping Bayou and LeAnne apart—it’s racism. That includes literal segregation laws to the unspoken agreement that any Black man who touches a white woman shall be lynched.

As LeeAnne falls deeper into the lie she never wanted for herself, Bayou pursues a career as a jazz singer in Chicago. You’re rooting for them, especially Bayou, who is played by Boone with a compelling blend of earnest goodness and steely courage. But the hardships and injustices keep piling up. You won’t be surprised when this love story doesn’t end happily, but that doesn’t make it any less soul-crushing. This is not a movie that will leave you with a smile on your face.

In an interview for the Jazzman’s Blues press notes, Perry, who wrote and directed the film, addressed the tragic nature of his tale. ” Some people who saw it said to me, ‘It’s a love story, but it’s so tragic.’ And I was explaining to them, ‘Well, for us as Black people in America, a lot of our love stories at this time were tragic. We didn’t have the option to run away and live happily ever after. There were many things we had to overcome.’ So I don’t want to water down our history or do away with it because I think it’s very important that we remember and acknowledge it and understand it.”

Later in the interview, he added, “The story and the passion of these people. And even though it’s a fictional movie to understand that these people actually existed, these struggles were common, these things actually happened.”

Perhaps that’s what makes A Jazzman’s Blue hit even harder than a film like The Notebook. You’ll come away with the sense this pain was all too real.