Directed by Lee Daniels; screenplay by Suzan-Lori Parks; based on the book by Johann Hari
Sixty-two years ago, on July 17, 1959, Billie Holiday died in Metropolitan Hospital in East Harlem, New York City due to complications of chronic substance abuse, bringing an end to her career as one of the premier jazz vocalists of the mid-20th century. She is the subject of Lee Daniels’
The United States vs. Billie Holiday, a seriously misguided work.
Andra Day in
The United States vs. Billie Holiday
Holiday overcame an abusive childhood she grew up with her prostitute mother in Baltimore and Harlem brothels and a limited vocal range, to become a unique stylist who interpreted the popular songs of her era like a laid-back instrumentalist, delivering their lyrics with an unsettling emotional wallop.
The United States Vs Billie Holiday proves unable to rescue its heroin from its own confusion dailycardinal.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from dailycardinal.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Subscribe to our newsletter here.
Despite “The United States vs. Billie Holiday” chronicling the last few years of the legendary jazz singer’s life, as well as her battle with the Federal Bureau of Narcotics and with substance use disorder, the film seems to have little empathy for Holiday as a human.
Biographical films usually offer the chance for audiences to get closer to larger-than-life historical figures. It allows us to see their humanity, if only through imagined and fictionalized conversations and interactions.
However, director Lee Daniels and Suzan-Lori Parks, the film’s screenwriter and a Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, focus so much on Holiday’s encounters with the Federal Bureau of Narcotics that they don’t leave enough room to really grapple with the emotional and physical toll that the bureau’s persecution took on the musician.
Takashi Seida
With her mesmerizing voice and powerful performance style, Billie Holiday’s enduring legacy stretches beyond her impact on jazz and popular music. Her song “
Strange Fruit,” based on a poem metaphorically describing a lynching, became a protest anthem in the years leading into the civil rights movement. But Holiday also battled substance addiction while dealing with a lifetime of abuse, and J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI used this to relentlessly pursue and persecute her as exemplified by the title of a new biopic about her life,
Directed by Lee Daniels, the movie portrays the legendary singer (Andra Day) at the pinnacle of her career, which was captured through famous black-and-white photos from the ‘40s and ‘50s. Costume designer Paolo Nieddu eagerly took on the challenge of reimagining renowned moments of Holiday like a famous image of the singer entranced mid-song with her signature gardenia clipped above one ear for the biographical drama.