The United States vs. Billie Holiday

The United States vs. Billie Holiday
Image source: Google

Ratings: 2/5

Duration: 02 Hrs 10 Mins

Language: English

Genre: Biography, Drama, Music

Director: Lee Daniels

Writers: Suzan-Lori Parks

Based On: Chasing the Scream by Johann Hari

Producers: Jeremy Allen, Mark Bomback, Marie Cisco, Lee Daniels, Cassian Elwes, Jordan Fudge, Jeremy Green, Jeff Kirschenbaum, Patty Long, Wellington Love, George Parra, Joe Roth, Hilary Shor, Tucker Tooley, Pamela Oas Williams

Music: Kris Bowers

Cinematography: Andrew Dunn

Editing: Jay Rabinowitz

Art Direction: Vincent Aird, Carolyne de Bellefeuille, Félix Larivière-Charron, Léa-Valérie Létourneau

Release Date: 26 February 2021 (USA)

Released On: hulu

Star Cast: Andra Day, Leslie Jordan, Miss Lawrence, Natasha Lyonne, Trevante Rhodes, Dusan Dukic, Erik LaRay Harvey, Da'Vine Joy Randolph, Koumba Ball, Kate MacLellan, Kwasi Songui, Adriane Lenox, Letitia Brookes, Tyler James Williams, Warren 'Slim' Williams, Orville Thompson, Garrett Hedlund, Jeff Corbett, Damian Joseph Quinn, Robert Alan Beuth, Randy Davison, Melvin Gregg, Kevin Hanchard, Jono Townsend, Morgan Moore, Ray Shell, Arlen John Bonnar, Furly Mac, Blake DeLong, Andrew Zadel, Tristan D. Lalla, Alex Bisping, Don Anderson, Amanda Strawn, Charleine Charles, Evan Ross, Sylvia Stewart, Daphné Archer, Anita Lee, Tony Chao, Linda Sauvé, Alain Goulem, Ramona Clyke, Laurent Beaudin, Alika Autran, Kim Feeney, Diana Carmen Ratycz, Tone Bell, Richard Jutras, Rob Morgan, Jonathan Higgins, Marc Essertaize, Nealla Gordon, Len Blavatnik, Christopher Ricardo Price, Taryn Brown, Zuri Hawkins, Elizabeth Eveillard, Dana Gourrier, Clauter Alexandre, Penande Estime, Nefertari Zanyah Brewster-Griffith, Joe Cobden, Ronda Louis-Jeune, Maxime Paradis, Sarah Levesque, Alain Marier, Simon Alain, L. Fernando Becerra Sánchez, Jay Chevery, Eric Clark, Karl Graboshas, Philippe Hartmann, Arthur Holden, Picardy Jean-Pierre, Mark Antony Krupa, Yvanna-Rose Leblanc, Cat Lemieux, Guy Letourneau, Liana Lewis, Miryam Magri, Jesse Mitchell, Christopher Wyllie

Plot: One of the greatest jazz musicians of all time, the legendary Billie Holiday (Andra Day), spent much of her career being adored by fans across the globe. All the while, the Federal Department of Narcotics targeted her with an undercover sting operation led by black Federal Agent Jimmy Fletcher (Trevante Rhodes), with whom she had a tumultuous affair.

Inspired by her life story, ‘The United States vs. Billie Holiday’ intimately examines her struggles with addiction, fame, and heart-breaking love.

Review: ‘The United States vs. Billie Holiday’ is a biographical movie inspired by the singer's life, that fits into a surge of films about Black activism in the pursuit of equal rights.

The film, like so many by Lee Daniels, is content to wallow in suffering, convinced that overwhelming grief equates to emotional resonance. It is a practice Lee Daniels has used consistently since the accolades heaped upon the film ‘Precious’, but the returns have been diminishing for years.

The film largely focuses on Billie Holiday's many vices, which include illegal drugs and the many men who would take advantage of her.

By employing an interview with a radio host as the framework, Billie Holliday details the many ways the FBI made her life a living Hell, which included the employing agent Jimmy Fletcher (Trevante Rhodes) to portray a lovestruck fan, easily worming his way into her inner circle. He is just one of many, however, who would encourage and enable Billie Holiday's drug use, which gives the feds all the ammunition they need to arrest her repeatedly.

But when attempting to dig into Billie Holiday as a person the movie doesn’t do much but shows her as a drug addict and alcoholic who is too trusting with the people she loves. Rarely do we see her at her best. Occasionally, we see her lashing out at the friends who actually have her back, in favour of those who repeatedly have not. While the FBI is undoubtedly the villain here, Billie Holiday is more often her own worst enemy!

That is, on one hand, Billie Holiday is a strong, proud Black woman who is trying to fight for what is right through her beautiful singing voice and astonishing tenacity. While on the other hand, the viewers have to endure numerous sequences of despicable behaviour from someone who doesn't look like a good influence at all.

Therefore, it won’t be wrong to say that the narrative structure is so incoherent and raises so many moral questions regarding the true essence of the main character, that one couldn't help but feel disengaged from her story.

The only interesting moments are the musical performances which might be the only storytelling detail that works as a connecting point to what comes next or as a reference to what happened just before. Every other scene is seemingly detached from the next one, and Lee Daniels struggles to find the right path.

However, Andra Day is the saviour of what could have been a massive disaster. She shows a remarkable emotional range and a physical commitment to the role that not many actresses are capable of. She outshines every single element in the movie, including the remaining cast. It is Andra Day's phenomenal debut performance that saves a potential train wreck. Her music and acting display are the two key elements that keep the movie above water.

Daniel T. Dorrance's fabulous production design is hard to ignore, as is Kris Bowers' attention-grabbing score. However, these two rarely compensate for the jumbled editing by Jay Rabinowitz, untidy screenplay by Suzan-Lori Parks, and even Lee Daniels' erratic direction.

From the awkward, swift transitions to black-and-white and back to colour, to the lack of connection between cuts and even storylines, it is incredibly hard to feel captivated by such a visually confusing film.

Overall, ‘The United States vs. Billie Holiday’ could have been an inspirational, impactful story about Billie Holiday's influence, not only in jazz music but mainly in the fight for equal civil rights, but it is the film’s inconsistent direction and extremely messy screenplay, the two of many issues, that transform this film into an absolute let-down!