Page 20 - Jimmy Fletcher News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

The Trials of Billie Holiday

Two new movies emphasize the singer’s spirit of defiance and political courage. TAKASHI SEIDA/HULU Andra Day as Billie Holiday in her dressing room in Lee Daniels’s movie “The United States vs. Billie Holiday” Is any genre more vulnerable to the vagaries of ideology than the lavish artist biopic? The essential dilemma is how to milk the life for drama while also accommodating what was singular enough to merit biopic treatment in the first place: the work. Being juicier, the life tends to take over, rendering the art some half-accidental outcropping of painful experience. And a life story invites a moral looking at someone else’s from beginning to end, you can’t help but see how it might have gone better.

New yorkUnited statesJimmy fletcherCount basieJimmy fletcher trevante rhodesHarry anslingerAngela davisLouis mckayJo jonesDiana rossBillie holidayJames erskineJohn hammondLinda kuehlTallulah bankhead natasha lyonneLee daniels

Review: Andra Day burns hot and cool as jazz great in The United States vs Billie Holiday

Review: Andra Day burns hot and cool as jazz great in The United States vs. Billie Holiday Kevin Crust © (Takashi Seida / Hulu) Andra Day in the movie The United States vs. Billie Holiday. (Takashi Seida / Hulu) Starting with its title, there is no shortage of conflict in “The United States vs. Billie Holiday,” director Lee Daniels’ dispiriting portrayal of the federal government’s targeted pursuit of the great jazz singer from 1947 until her death in 1959 at the age of 44. Referring to the notorious 1947 court case that landed her in prison for a year on a narcotics possession charge at the height of her career, Holiday reportedly said, It was called The United States of America versus Billie Holiday, and that s just the way it felt.

New yorkUnited statesUnited kingdomLos angelesTallulah bankheadJohann hariTakashi seida hulu andraJimmy fletcher trevante rhodesTrevante rhodesLouis mckayTakashi seida huluTone bellBillie holidayDiana rossNatasha lyonneAudra mcdonald

United States vs Billie Holiday review: Andra Day scorches

Print Starting with its title, there is no shortage of conflict in “The United States vs. Billie Holiday,” director Lee Daniels’ dispiriting portrayal of the federal government’s targeted pursuit of the great jazz singer from 1947 until her death in 1959 at the age of 44. Referring to the notorious 1947 court case that landed her in prison for a year on a narcotics possession charge at the height of her career, Holiday reportedly said, “It was called ‘The United States of America versus Billie Holiday,’ and that’s just the way it felt.” Based on a chapter from British journalist Johann Hari’s 2015 book “Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs” and written by Pulitzer-winning playwright Suzan-Lori Parks (“Topdog/Underdog”), the movie takes its cues from the actions of Federal Bureau of Narcotics Commissioner Harry J. Anslinger (Garrett Hedlund). His obsession with Holiday as a threat to national security is near

New yorkUnited statesUnited kingdomTone bellTakashi seida huluDiana rossTallulah bankheadBillie holidayJohann hariNatasha lyonneAudra mcdonaldErik laray harveyJimmy fletcher trevante rhodesTrevante rhodesRob morganLee daniel

The United States vs Billie Holiday review: Woozy drama fails to do the jazz singer justice

(Sky Store, 127mins) The torch singer with the hard life is a cliché with good reason, and none harder than Billie Holiday’s. The 1940s jazz stylist with that uniquely raspy, hypnotising voice had it tough from the get-go, and once fame hit was bullied, used and beaten by a string of dreadful men. Her addictions to alcohol and heroin were well known, and she was just 44 years old when she died of cirrhosis, her voice and body destroyed by decades of misuse. But that’s not the whole story of a great talent’s tragic demise, and in Lee Daniels’ woozy drama we hear how she might have been driven to it.

New yorkUnited statesCarnegie hallMatthew modineTallulah bankheadJ edgar hooverOrson wellesJimmy fletcher trevante rhodesLester youngEleanora faganAbel meerpoolCharles laughtonTyler james williamsHarryj anslingerBillie holidayLouis gossett jr

Review: In The United States vs Billie Holiday, Andra Day is impressive but the movie falters

Review: In The United States vs Billie Holiday, Andra Day is impressive but the movie falters
gazettextra.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from gazettextra.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.

United statesBillie holidayLeslie jordanZac efronAbel meeropolNicole kidmanJimmy fletcher trevante rhodesTribune content agencyDiana rossAndra daySuzan lori parksLee danielsBlack messiahJimmy fletcherTrevante rhodesStar tribune