The United States vs. Billie Holiday
(C or 2/4 stars)
'The United States vs. Billie Holiday' (directed by Lee Daniels, Precious, The Butler) takes a harsh look at the adult life of legendary jazz singer Billie Holiday + her damaging battles with abusive men, drugs & the U.S. government. Director Daniels starts the proceedings in the mid-1950s where an older white interviewer (Leslie Jordan) questions Holiday about her checkered past, and it's there that the story takes focus. At that point {the early '40s), the singer is already popular, married to her 1st husband, James Monroe (Erik LaRay Harvey), & her deemed-dangerous song, "Strange Fruit" has long since been released; SF was a haunting ode to the lynching of black people and, the U.S. government considered it a huge threat to America's way of life.
With a small, but loyal entourage consisting of Miss Freddy (Miss Lawrence), Roslyn (Da'Vine Joy Randolph), manager Joe Glaser & heroin supplier Joe Guy, Billie draws the interest of two other {fateful} men. One is Jimmy Fletcher (Trevante Rhodes), an army vet who infiltrates his way into her life, then falls in love with her. And the 2nd man is Federal Bureau of Narcotics head Harry J. Anslinger (appropriately unlikeable Garrett Hedlund), who was hell bent on 'taking her down'; he felt that certain black people of influence could cause the downfall of society. It turns out that conflicted Jimmy is working for Anslinger as a rare black agent. Jimmy's domineering mother (Adriane Lenox) doesn't like that, nor does another black agent who wonders what they're doing to their own people. Using her drug habit against her & the power of manipulation, Anslinger did what he could to ruin her.
As a feat of cinematic art, this movie is a failure. Newcomer Andra Day is terrific and, her tortured performance is why you should check out the film. But other than some lovely tech work (period production design, gorgeous costumes), a few inspired sequences {like the horrific lynching/Strange Fruit performance}, and Day's fine work ... Lee Daniels really made a mess out of this project. The script features some surreal, dream-like vignettes which clash with the other flamboyant styles of storytelling that Daniels employs; making it feel disjointed. i.e., one scene might switch from black-&-white to grainy documentary-styled camerawork & then to a gauzy, soft-framed traditional movie look. Some scenes are cut short before we can establish info on who a particular character is, how they relate to Billie, or even their motivations - making for a reductive take on everything. It's hard to digest it all.
The movie also focuses too much on the salacious aspects of Holiday's life {rough childhood, unhealthy relationships, heroin/cocaine use}, rather than on what music meant to her, or even on the core of the story ... how the government waged war on her for daring to stand up for her people; Anslinger viewed her activism as akin to inciting riots. The recently-released Judas & the Black Messiah touched upon a lot of the same racism themes as this film, but THAT film was more cohesive & engrossing. Sure, it is necessary to know how downtrodden Holiday was, but at 130 minutes, the filmmakers did not succeed in making both the salacious side of Holiday & the government hunt for her ... flow smoothly. It all felt laborious & uneven.
Andra Day's intoxicating performance alleviates some of the laboriousness & unevenness; though, there's only so much she can do. Whether she's onstage belting out one of her transfixing hits {that voice!} or offstage dealing with her crippling personal demons, Day gets under Holiday's skin, lending a raw, honest portrait of this tortured artist. She embodies Billie's trauma, sadness, impulsiveness, talent, and also the steadfastness in her quest to fight for her people - even as the walls seem to be crumbling around her. I also liked Trevante Rhodes as Fisher, a complex man caught up in a relationship that he can't shake. Despite Day's excellence & some fleeting moments of brilliance, Lee Daniel's distracting, heavy-handed, misery-laden storytelling techniques fails to heighten viewer engagement & fails all the actors who are giving it their all. Andra Day's work belongs in a better film.
With a small, but loyal entourage consisting of Miss Freddy (Miss Lawrence), Roslyn (Da'Vine Joy Randolph), manager Joe Glaser & heroin supplier Joe Guy, Billie draws the interest of two other {fateful} men. One is Jimmy Fletcher (Trevante Rhodes), an army vet who infiltrates his way into her life, then falls in love with her. And the 2nd man is Federal Bureau of Narcotics head Harry J. Anslinger (appropriately unlikeable Garrett Hedlund), who was hell bent on 'taking her down'; he felt that certain black people of influence could cause the downfall of society. It turns out that conflicted Jimmy is working for Anslinger as a rare black agent. Jimmy's domineering mother (Adriane Lenox) doesn't like that, nor does another black agent who wonders what they're doing to their own people. Using her drug habit against her & the power of manipulation, Anslinger did what he could to ruin her.
As a feat of cinematic art, this movie is a failure. Newcomer Andra Day is terrific and, her tortured performance is why you should check out the film. But other than some lovely tech work (period production design, gorgeous costumes), a few inspired sequences {like the horrific lynching/Strange Fruit performance}, and Day's fine work ... Lee Daniels really made a mess out of this project. The script features some surreal, dream-like vignettes which clash with the other flamboyant styles of storytelling that Daniels employs; making it feel disjointed. i.e., one scene might switch from black-&-white to grainy documentary-styled camerawork & then to a gauzy, soft-framed traditional movie look. Some scenes are cut short before we can establish info on who a particular character is, how they relate to Billie, or even their motivations - making for a reductive take on everything. It's hard to digest it all.
The movie also focuses too much on the salacious aspects of Holiday's life {rough childhood, unhealthy relationships, heroin/cocaine use}, rather than on what music meant to her, or even on the core of the story ... how the government waged war on her for daring to stand up for her people; Anslinger viewed her activism as akin to inciting riots. The recently-released Judas & the Black Messiah touched upon a lot of the same racism themes as this film, but THAT film was more cohesive & engrossing. Sure, it is necessary to know how downtrodden Holiday was, but at 130 minutes, the filmmakers did not succeed in making both the salacious side of Holiday & the government hunt for her ... flow smoothly. It all felt laborious & uneven.
Andra Day's intoxicating performance alleviates some of the laboriousness & unevenness; though, there's only so much she can do. Whether she's onstage belting out one of her transfixing hits {that voice!} or offstage dealing with her crippling personal demons, Day gets under Holiday's skin, lending a raw, honest portrait of this tortured artist. She embodies Billie's trauma, sadness, impulsiveness, talent, and also the steadfastness in her quest to fight for her people - even as the walls seem to be crumbling around her. I also liked Trevante Rhodes as Fisher, a complex man caught up in a relationship that he can't shake. Despite Day's excellence & some fleeting moments of brilliance, Lee Daniel's distracting, heavy-handed, misery-laden storytelling techniques fails to heighten viewer engagement & fails all the actors who are giving it their all. Andra Day's work belongs in a better film.