Title - The United States Vs. Billie Holiday
Studio - Lee Daniels Entertainment, New Slate Ventures
Starring - Andra Day, Trevante Rhodes, Da'Vine Joy Randolph, Garrett Hedlund, Leslie Jordan, Tyler James Williams, Rob Morgan
Writer - Suzan-Lori Parks
Director - Lee Daniels
Release - 26 February 2021
Who knew Andra Day could act? I remembered when she made me pay attention to her vocals, I didn't even know what she looked like, who she was. And now, she is an Academy Award nominated actress.
Does she deserve it? I could put up an argument why I wouldn't include her in the list. But her performance was definitely commendable. As were the rest of her castmates, who have been in the business longer than her, and she not only held her own but also carried the movie.
Lee Daniels' The Butler captivated me, a few notches more than Precious. Billie Holiday felt like he went down a rung from Precious. The material felt dull even though the subject felt more interesting than what ended up onscreen.
Was it because of the split focus between the FBI hounding her for her song, "Strange Fruit", or her battle with drugs, or how she almost always let the wrong man into her life? The story tried to weave everything together but ended up feeling more disjointed from scene to scene.
And I really disliked the dream sequence where the song "Strange Fruit" was played. It felt like it was a good idea on paper but onscreen it didn't feel like it didn't play well; and even more disappointing was that it was supposed to be a momentous scene.
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