Hulu The United States vs. Billie Holiday
- Thread starter MoeW
- Start date
neo2090
OG
PERPLEXING PERSECUTION
PRAISE: Sometimes i think i know all there is to know about a historical figure or performer but then films like The United States vs Billie Holiday come along providing eye opening facts.
The film is based on Federal Bureau of Narcotics launching an undercover sting operation against jazz singer Billie Holiday.
Andra Day as Billie Holiday turns in a stunning,bold,and heart wrenching performance also belting out some of Holidays most memorable songs.She gets strong support from the rest of the cast including : Trevante Rhodes as Jimmy Fletcher,Natasha Lyonne as Tallulah Bankhead
and Garrett Hedlund as Harry J. Anslinger.
Director Lee Daniels presents a warts an all picture of Holiday and doesnt pull any punches when it comes to dialogue whether it's salty or truthful for the time period he's covering.
It's a fact Holiday had several vices but the fact that the FBI went after her because of her song Strange Fruit that was not only truthful but soulful about the lynchings of black people was insane. FBI Director at the time J Egar Hoover must have been turning cartwheels when Anslinger relentlessly pursued Holiday over Strange Fruit just because he felt it would spark some type of violent revolution.
There are scenes that can be very triggering and not for the faint of heart so please keep that in mind.
PROBLEMS: Some facts about Holiday are just barely touched on.I wish they had been explored more instead of in a quick mention.
Daniel's can be heavy handed with his direction at times and when he couples that with filming scenes in a way that's off putting it completely took me out of the film. Some sequences are so over the top it's unitentionally funny and then some.
Scale of 1-10 a 7½
PRAISE: Sometimes i think i know all there is to know about a historical figure or performer but then films like The United States vs Billie Holiday come along providing eye opening facts.
The film is based on Federal Bureau of Narcotics launching an undercover sting operation against jazz singer Billie Holiday.
Andra Day as Billie Holiday turns in a stunning,bold,and heart wrenching performance also belting out some of Holidays most memorable songs.She gets strong support from the rest of the cast including : Trevante Rhodes as Jimmy Fletcher,Natasha Lyonne as Tallulah Bankhead
and Garrett Hedlund as Harry J. Anslinger.
Director Lee Daniels presents a warts an all picture of Holiday and doesnt pull any punches when it comes to dialogue whether it's salty or truthful for the time period he's covering.
It's a fact Holiday had several vices but the fact that the FBI went after her because of her song Strange Fruit that was not only truthful but soulful about the lynchings of black people was insane. FBI Director at the time J Egar Hoover must have been turning cartwheels when Anslinger relentlessly pursued Holiday over Strange Fruit just because he felt it would spark some type of violent revolution.
There are scenes that can be very triggering and not for the faint of heart so please keep that in mind.
PROBLEMS: Some facts about Holiday are just barely touched on.I wish they had been explored more instead of in a quick mention.
Daniel's can be heavy handed with his direction at times and when he couples that with filming scenes in a way that's off putting it completely took me out of the film. Some sequences are so over the top it's unitentionally funny and then some.
Scale of 1-10 a 7½
Yea, the direction of this film was a bit muddled at times. Andra Day killed it though. Impressive considering it's her first role
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