Synopsis

The Federal Bureau of Narcotics launches an undercover sting operation against jazz singer Billie Holiday.

Review

I wasn't going to write a review for this film because of my schedule, but I have to get these thoughts off my chest really fast. This will be shorter than normal, but I just have to vent...

THIS FILM IS A MESS! An absolute mess! This film is just a cacophony of stylistic inconsistency and aimlessness. Lee Daniels needs to stick to television. This film is so soapy, it was almost unbearable. This film had me for about the first half. For the first hour or so, I was rockin' with it. It lost right around when Jimmy has his first drug trip. That scene seemed so random and unnecessary, and the film never recovered. At that point and from then on, I noticed what I consider to be one of the worst edited films I've ever seen. 

The poor editing choices led this to be extremely inconsistent. Random black-and-white, slow-motion, fast-motion, too much fading, and sloppily cut scenes make this film almost annoying to watch. There is something the film does that really, REALLY aggravated me, but it's not easy to describe... For transitions, the film occasionally uses historical footage or photographs from the time period of the film (1930s to 1950s). Most of that is in black-and-white and in a 4:3 ratio. Oftentimes, a scene will fade in from a black-and-white picture in a 4:3 ratio and stay that way stylistically (B&W and 4:3). The scene IS NOT MEANT TO BE IN THE FORMAT. It is a widescreen shot with part of it cut out. It will then cut to another angle of the same shot... IN WIDESCREEN LIKE IT'S SUPPOSED TO BE. It's not a smooth transition. It's an abrupt cut that is so jarring (obviously, it's stuck with me strongly). I think most of that is Lee Daniels being very self-indulgent and wanting to show off. 

The story is kind of all over the place. It doesn't know if it wants to be a biopic or a crime thriller. And the timeline is not easy to follow. It is chronological for a bit, but then, at a point, it starts jumping around. And you lose whatever track of time you thought you had. It's aggravating. And, there's too much sex and nudity in this film. I'm not a prude, but there's no reason for there to be as much nudity as there is in this film for any film of this nature.

The ONLY saving grace this film has is its lead performance from Andra Day. Andra Day in this role is extraordinary, especially considering this is her acting debut. She captures Holiday very well, especially her voice. The music in the film is great, but it's not enough to save this mess of a film. I wanted this film to be great. I wanted it to succeed, but it just didn't.