Everyone Digs Bill Evans in Berlin
Grant Gee Wins Silver Bear for Best Direction
By: Susan Hall - Feb 25, 2026
Bill Evans, as portrayed in the film Everybody Digs Bill Evans—which earned Grant Gee a Silver Bear for Best Director at the Berlin International Film Festival in 2026—is inarguably one of the greatest jazz pianists of the last century.
Among his singular contributions was the rare ability to improvise simultaneously with bassist Scott LaFaro. Their music did not blend so much as it deepened: rhythms, phrases, and dynamics thickened and expanded. The result was rich, absorbing, alive.
Shortly after an engagement at the Village Vanguard, LaFaro was killed in a car accident, and Evans stopped playing. A musician of his caliber does not choose the life. He is born to it. And if you accept the genetic summons, music becomes your master.
This is essential to understand when watching the film. Evans’ relationships are wretched—especially with his girlfriend (Ellaine Schultz), his brother (Barry Ward), his sister-in-law (Laurie Metcalf), and his parents (Bill Pullman and Katie McGrath). Anders Danielsen Lie captures Evans as the beleaguered artist, dragged down by drugs, while the elevation of his talent hovers constantly on screen.
Shot largely in a single hue, with flashes of color appearing in flash-forwards—among them Evans’ death—cinematographer Piers McGrail conveys the desperation of a man severed from his musical source, from the partner who completed his sound.
Families often pay the price for their gifted members. Evans’ father and brother do. Yet they are jealous—not because they must help, but because they lack the talent that defines their son and brother.
The film itself moves musically, one chord unfolding into the next. It is a remarkable work.