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THE UNITED STATES VS BILLIE HOLIDAY (15, 130 mins)
Drama / Romance / Musical. Andra Day, Trevante Rhodes, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Miss Lawrence, Garrett Hedlund, Rob Morgan, Natasha Lyonne, Leslie Jordan. Director: Lee Daniels.
Release: February 27 (available exclusively on Sky Cinema)
A FEROCIOUS and uncompromising main performance by Grammy-nominated R&B star Andra Day, who makes her feature film debut, almost redeems director Lee Daniels’ scattered biopic of groundbreaking singer Billie Holiday.
Based on journalist Johann Hari’s book Chasing The Scream, Suzan-Lori Parks’ screenplay uses a cumbersome framing device to ricochet through 12 years of emotional upheaval, which culminated in Holiday’s arrest for drug possession while ‘she was dying in the New York Metropolitan Hospital.
The color bleeds into the monochrome and returns again as Daniels incorporates archival footage from the era, which packs an emotional punch heavier than anything he conjures up in style with production designer Daniel T Dorrance and costume designer Paolo Nieddu.
Indeed, a sobering postscript on the progress of anti-lynching law Emmett Till, given greater impetus by the death of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter movement, is an uncomfortable reminder of the short time that has changed since Holiday launched its first provocative protest. song Strange Fruit in 1939.
Day is a possessed woman, shedding clothes, inhibitions, and the smallest bursts of self-awareness to explore Holiday’s courage under fire and her self-destructive tendencies.
His successful renditions are delivered with piercing clarity, imbued with pain and despair.
Conversely, Trevante Rhodes is short-circuited as an FBI agent, who spies on Holiday then becomes her lover.
The complex psychology of their volatile romance never comes together in a satisfying way.
In 1957, Billie Holiday (Day) sat down with gossip columnist Reginald Lord Devine (Leslie Jordan).
They discuss Strange Fruit, which rages against the lynching of black Americans and is described by a government agent as “a musical starting weapon for this so-called civil rights movement.” She also traces her long-standing feud with Harry J Anslinger (Garrett Hedlund), head of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics.
The singer looks back 10 years on her performances at New York nightclub Cafe Society – motto: “The wrong place for good people” – where she is introduced to ardent admirer Jimmy Fletcher (Rhodes). The handsome ex-GI was secretly hired by Anslinger to infiltrate his entourage.
Jimmy plays a central role in Billie’s one-year sentence for heroin possession.
The FBI mole regrets his actions and becomes his protector alongside confidants Roslyn (Da’Vine Joy Randolph) and Miss Freddy (Miss Lawrence).
Sadly, Billie can’t escape the grip of drug addiction and pushes Jimmy away to spare him a one-way ticket down the road to hell: “I have to find you a nice girl, and it’s not me.”
The United States Vs Billie Holiday is a glittering showcase for Day but, as a cohesive and compelling portrayal of a flawed musical genius, Daniels’ image is offbeat. The timeline is blurry at times, and there is a frustrating lack of clarity in on-screen relationships, including Billie’s alliances with screen star Tallulah Bankhead (Natasha Lyonne).
The musical sequences are dazzling, fixing Day’s glossy red lips as she performs Solitude, Ain’t Nobody’s Business and All Of Me. The singer shamelessly gives herself to the role. Everything else, unfortunately, fails.
Rating: 6/10
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