Film Review: Billie
Billie (2020) Dir. James Erskine © Greenwich Entertainment / Getty All Rights Reserved
Written by Belle McIntyre
If you, like me, are one of those who cannot get enough of Billie Holiday, this new documentary will provide plenty to love. As familiar as her well-documented life has become, there are still more revelations to be discovered. Thanks to the over 200 hours of taped interviews made over an 8 year period by journalist Linda Lipnik Kuehl begun in 1971 which ended with her sudden death, apparently by suicide. I imagine she would be gratified to see the beautiful film which James Erskine crafted from all of her thorough and thoughtful research. The fact that a young white writer gained access to so many of the seminal characters who were close to the iconic “Lady Day” is, in itself a tribute to her dedication to her subject. She was obsessed with revealing the real person behind the legend and not treating her as a victim.
Billie (2020) Dir. James Erskine © Greenwich Entertainment / Getty All Rights Reserved
Her hardscrabble early life is well-trodden territory with both her single mother and herself at age 13 engaging in sex work. As soon as she got herself to New York City, she found her way out and embarked on the career which produced so much adulation, scandal and unforgettable music. She lived hard and fast, as if she knew she did not have long. Apparently, she had hundreds of affairs and enjoyed sex with men, women and prostitutes. Many of her partners were abusive. And her appetite for booze and drugs was impressive.
As a performer she refused to be manipulated into categories not suitable to her voice or taste. She was quoted as saying she wanted her voice to sound like an instrument. She wrote a number of her own songs, like “God Bless the Child” and “Don’t Explain.” She made them her own along with the controversial “Strange Fruit,” a gut-wrenching cri de coeur about lynchings, which was emotionally draining for her and often made white audiences uncomfortable. When she sings bluesy songs about men who leave and do her wrong, she wrings so much tangible personal pain, it breaks your heart. She brought all of her lived life to her art.
Billie (2020) Dir. James Erskine © Greenwich Entertainment / Getty All Rights Reserved
Through interviews with her musical collaborators, Count Basie, Charles Mingus, Tony Bennet, Joe Jones, one of her pimps, “Skinny” Livingstone, friends, Sylvia Sims, agents and producers, John Hammond, we learn about the indignities of touring in the Jim Crow south. She was targeted and harassed by the narcotics division of the FBI, who finally were able to entrap her through some treachery of those close to her. She was charged for narcotics possession and served a year in prison. Upon her release, she made a triumphant appearance at Carnegie Hall to wild acclaim and continued to perform.
Don Peterson, Billie Holiday & band recording for Commodore 1939, Copyright Greenwich Entertainment / Getty
Lest this sound like a depressing sordid story, the gorgeous soundtrack of her performances and archival footage, much of it colorized which underlays all of this is more than enough to reward the viewer. One cannot help but be mesmerized by her humanity and her unique instrument. To the extent that she was, by almost any standard, victimized by racism, sexism, and politics, she refused to see herself that way. She unapologetically flaunted her beauty, glamour and celebrity. Always dressed to the teeth in her jewels and furs as she enjoyed the high life with the help of all of the substances available to her until her body could take it no longer at 44 years old. She lived life on her own terms. An amazing woman.
(Available on Amazon Prime)
