The united states vs Billie Holiday
2021
15
Director: Lee Daniels
Starring: Andra Day, Trevante Rhodes, Garrett Hedlund, Natasha Lyonne, Leslie Jordan, Miss Lawrence, etc
Overall rating 67/100
The united states vs Billie Holliday is about the legendary singer Billie Holliday (Andra Day), as we follow her career as she is targeted by the federal department of narcotics with an undercover sting operation led by black federal agent Jimmy Fletcher (Trevante Rhodes), with whom she has a tumultuous affair with. I have very mixed feeling on this film, there was some excellent moments but also an equal amount of frustratingly poor moments. Let's get started.
My first few positives would be the powerful beginning, how likeable Billie was and the fantastic performances, the conflict being well set up with the government, as well as the great soundtrack. I thought that the beginning was really powerful and linked well with the message of the film and connected with billie really well, it was heart-breaking to see the poor judgement of people with colour and the barbaric behaviour of lynching's was awful, but it set up the tone and themes of the film really well and signified the importance of Billie as a person with her song strange fruit. I also thought that Billie Holliday was a very likeable person, despite being very flawed to the point of over dramatization in places (more on that in a future paragraph) Billie was unapolagetically herself, didn't take no crap from anyone and was an important symbol in the fight for racial equality, and when she was told to keep her mouth shut she did the complete opposite. I also have to praise Andra Day for her absolutely incredible performance, she was the best part of the film and completely deserved her Oscar nomination. Her performance was powerful, moving and charming and she bought Billie Holliday to life in such an incredible way and she stole every scene she was in I honestly couldn't keep my eyes off her. I also thought the conflict between Billie and the government was excellently done. When Billie was in her prime in the 40's and 50's there was unfortunately a lot of racial inequality still so therefore the government wanted her gone as she represented a change that they didn't want to see, It was horrifying to see them do everything in their power to get Billie arrested and target her, effecting her mental health in a very negative way, which also triggered some good conflict with Billie and her friends as she began to spiral out of control, you couldn't help but sympathise with her in parts. Finally, I also thought the soundtrack was excellent, Billie was an incredible artist, her voice was haunting, and her songs had so much power and meaning and represented a change in racial equality with strange fruit being a powerful song that was sung beautifully.
My next few positives would be the strong dialogue, fantastic cinematography. As well as great character development and depth. I thought that the movie did an absolutely excellent job with its dialogue, it had some very moving lines that bought the character of Billie to life so well conveying her snappy and care free attitude well, as well as building tension and conflict effectively highlighting how white people talked down to and treated black people in the 40's. I also thought the cinematography was excellent, there was some really great set pieces and creative shots. I also really liked the creative blending of the black and white and found footage of Billie with the film I thought that was a really nice creative touch. I thought that the movie also had excellent character depth, Billie was a troubled soul and the more you learned about the more you understood why she turned to alcohol and drugs as a coping mechanism, her disturbing childhood, not feeling good enough or welcome anywhere, and her being constantly targeted by the government took a really negative toll on her and she used alcohol and drugs to take the pain and negative thoughts away, this was really moving especially in the second half of the move and as her character developed we began to understand her and her struggles.
My first few negatives would be the lack of set up or explanation to certain characters, some unneeded scenes, an occasional emotional disconnect to the plot and characters and the odd characterisation of Billie. I thought the movie oddly set up a lot of characters with a lack of set up or explanation into who they actually were, this made the pacing very clunky, because it was often very confusing who the characters were, and it too often felt the film was just expecting you to know who the people were so just skipped straight into them being in a relationship with Billie for months. I also felt like there was a lot of unneeded scenes that just felt too much like filler, there was scenes that could of simply been cut as they served no purpose to the overall message of the film particular examples would have to be the funeral of Billie's dog and certain scenes with Billie's and fans. For me there was an occasional emotional disconnect to the film especially in the first half, it felt like the movie was undecided on how to depict Billie as a person. One minute the movie was aligning you with her and her cause, the next the movie almost turned against her making Billie seem horrible, cruel and a burden to her community with certain characters attacking her about her issues and forgetting the impact she had. This just felt like very odd and inconsistent characterisation for me and I struggled to connect with the film, this became more focused for her character in the second half but they still felt a bit divided on how people should see her.
My final few positives would be the chemistry between the cast, the powerful themes on racism and emotional weight, the excellent building of tension and the powerful ending. I thought the whole cast had excellent chemistry with Andra Day and they bounced off each other really well, all of their friendships were fun and believable and gave the movie some much needed light hearted humour. I thought the movie tackled its themes on racism excellently, it really went into great depths in the divide of races and how black people were treated, and even when they were in the police like Jimmy was they were still being manipulated for their own gain. This made the movie had a lot of emotional weight as it was truly horrifying to watch the actions people took just because of a difference in skin colour, it was executed authentically and powerfully, and Billie's spiral into ill health was also very well done and emotional, as she never lost who she was, and her legacy still remained. I also thought the movie-built tension really well for a hard-hitting final act. As the allegations and attacks against Billie got bigger and bigger, I genuinely didn't know what was going to happen to her and the negative impact it had on her health, it was heart-breaking to watch but also powerfully done, with a had hitting ending that stayed true to who Billie was as a person and had important messages on racism and linking to the modern day as well.
My final few negatives would be the lack of sympathy to characters due to the glorifying of drugs, the clunky structure and pacing issues. I thought that the film made it fairly hard to connect to Billie and the other characters and to sympathise with them, especially in the first half, the movie didn't really portray drugs as a bad thing or the cause of billie's declining health instead it was portrayed more casually and was obsessively used in normal situations with friends, this for me creates a bit of a lack of connection to the people involved, it happened too often and could have been handled much better. I also thought that the movie had an extremely clunky structure and really bad pacing issues, the movie felt very episodic and just felt like a series of big events in her life. There was nothing in between and the film often cut into scenes that we didn't have a clue what was happening, or spoon feeding us information in the dialogue that we could of seen for set up and context. This made the whole film feel very clunky and rush and was fairly poorly structured.
Overall, despite a truly Oscar worthy performance from Andra Day, bringing Billie Holiday to life in a fascinating character study, and the film hitting all of the right notes with its themes on racism. It far to often gets trapped in its clunky structure, misguided characterisation of Billie and occasional bad handling of some deeper themes, that the film often looses itself and its authenticity, therefore making it not as strong as previous biopics.
Overall rating 67/100
The united states vs Billie Holliday is about the legendary singer Billie Holliday (Andra Day), as we follow her career as she is targeted by the federal department of narcotics with an undercover sting operation led by black federal agent Jimmy Fletcher (Trevante Rhodes), with whom she has a tumultuous affair with. I have very mixed feeling on this film, there was some excellent moments but also an equal amount of frustratingly poor moments. Let's get started.
My first few positives would be the powerful beginning, how likeable Billie was and the fantastic performances, the conflict being well set up with the government, as well as the great soundtrack. I thought that the beginning was really powerful and linked well with the message of the film and connected with billie really well, it was heart-breaking to see the poor judgement of people with colour and the barbaric behaviour of lynching's was awful, but it set up the tone and themes of the film really well and signified the importance of Billie as a person with her song strange fruit. I also thought that Billie Holliday was a very likeable person, despite being very flawed to the point of over dramatization in places (more on that in a future paragraph) Billie was unapolagetically herself, didn't take no crap from anyone and was an important symbol in the fight for racial equality, and when she was told to keep her mouth shut she did the complete opposite. I also have to praise Andra Day for her absolutely incredible performance, she was the best part of the film and completely deserved her Oscar nomination. Her performance was powerful, moving and charming and she bought Billie Holliday to life in such an incredible way and she stole every scene she was in I honestly couldn't keep my eyes off her. I also thought the conflict between Billie and the government was excellently done. When Billie was in her prime in the 40's and 50's there was unfortunately a lot of racial inequality still so therefore the government wanted her gone as she represented a change that they didn't want to see, It was horrifying to see them do everything in their power to get Billie arrested and target her, effecting her mental health in a very negative way, which also triggered some good conflict with Billie and her friends as she began to spiral out of control, you couldn't help but sympathise with her in parts. Finally, I also thought the soundtrack was excellent, Billie was an incredible artist, her voice was haunting, and her songs had so much power and meaning and represented a change in racial equality with strange fruit being a powerful song that was sung beautifully.
My next few positives would be the strong dialogue, fantastic cinematography. As well as great character development and depth. I thought that the movie did an absolutely excellent job with its dialogue, it had some very moving lines that bought the character of Billie to life so well conveying her snappy and care free attitude well, as well as building tension and conflict effectively highlighting how white people talked down to and treated black people in the 40's. I also thought the cinematography was excellent, there was some really great set pieces and creative shots. I also really liked the creative blending of the black and white and found footage of Billie with the film I thought that was a really nice creative touch. I thought that the movie also had excellent character depth, Billie was a troubled soul and the more you learned about the more you understood why she turned to alcohol and drugs as a coping mechanism, her disturbing childhood, not feeling good enough or welcome anywhere, and her being constantly targeted by the government took a really negative toll on her and she used alcohol and drugs to take the pain and negative thoughts away, this was really moving especially in the second half of the move and as her character developed we began to understand her and her struggles.
My first few negatives would be the lack of set up or explanation to certain characters, some unneeded scenes, an occasional emotional disconnect to the plot and characters and the odd characterisation of Billie. I thought the movie oddly set up a lot of characters with a lack of set up or explanation into who they actually were, this made the pacing very clunky, because it was often very confusing who the characters were, and it too often felt the film was just expecting you to know who the people were so just skipped straight into them being in a relationship with Billie for months. I also felt like there was a lot of unneeded scenes that just felt too much like filler, there was scenes that could of simply been cut as they served no purpose to the overall message of the film particular examples would have to be the funeral of Billie's dog and certain scenes with Billie's and fans. For me there was an occasional emotional disconnect to the film especially in the first half, it felt like the movie was undecided on how to depict Billie as a person. One minute the movie was aligning you with her and her cause, the next the movie almost turned against her making Billie seem horrible, cruel and a burden to her community with certain characters attacking her about her issues and forgetting the impact she had. This just felt like very odd and inconsistent characterisation for me and I struggled to connect with the film, this became more focused for her character in the second half but they still felt a bit divided on how people should see her.
My final few positives would be the chemistry between the cast, the powerful themes on racism and emotional weight, the excellent building of tension and the powerful ending. I thought the whole cast had excellent chemistry with Andra Day and they bounced off each other really well, all of their friendships were fun and believable and gave the movie some much needed light hearted humour. I thought the movie tackled its themes on racism excellently, it really went into great depths in the divide of races and how black people were treated, and even when they were in the police like Jimmy was they were still being manipulated for their own gain. This made the movie had a lot of emotional weight as it was truly horrifying to watch the actions people took just because of a difference in skin colour, it was executed authentically and powerfully, and Billie's spiral into ill health was also very well done and emotional, as she never lost who she was, and her legacy still remained. I also thought the movie-built tension really well for a hard-hitting final act. As the allegations and attacks against Billie got bigger and bigger, I genuinely didn't know what was going to happen to her and the negative impact it had on her health, it was heart-breaking to watch but also powerfully done, with a had hitting ending that stayed true to who Billie was as a person and had important messages on racism and linking to the modern day as well.
My final few negatives would be the lack of sympathy to characters due to the glorifying of drugs, the clunky structure and pacing issues. I thought that the film made it fairly hard to connect to Billie and the other characters and to sympathise with them, especially in the first half, the movie didn't really portray drugs as a bad thing or the cause of billie's declining health instead it was portrayed more casually and was obsessively used in normal situations with friends, this for me creates a bit of a lack of connection to the people involved, it happened too often and could have been handled much better. I also thought that the movie had an extremely clunky structure and really bad pacing issues, the movie felt very episodic and just felt like a series of big events in her life. There was nothing in between and the film often cut into scenes that we didn't have a clue what was happening, or spoon feeding us information in the dialogue that we could of seen for set up and context. This made the whole film feel very clunky and rush and was fairly poorly structured.
Overall, despite a truly Oscar worthy performance from Andra Day, bringing Billie Holiday to life in a fascinating character study, and the film hitting all of the right notes with its themes on racism. It far to often gets trapped in its clunky structure, misguided characterisation of Billie and occasional bad handling of some deeper themes, that the film often looses itself and its authenticity, therefore making it not as strong as previous biopics.