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Hey guys, and welcome back to Crossing the Streams. This month, I’m going to be taking a special look at some of the Oscar Nominees that will hope to be taking home gold on February 28th. A quick aside, if you don’t have Oscar plans then you should  join the GoodTrash Media family as we live stream our Oscar Watch Party. We will be having movie themed snacks and a competition to see who knows the Academy’s politics the best. There will be more info on that later, but for now we need to get to the movies. This week, I’m kicking things off with a look at one of the nominees for Best Documentary,  the Netflix original What Happened, Miss Simone. 

It fascinates me how much darkness and tragedy often goes on in the lives of successful artists. From comedians to musicians, the most inspiring and inspired artists are often those with the greatest demons. It makes sense; pain is a great motivator. Comedians use the stage as a way of coping with these pains while musicians are able to bring it to life and provide a cathartic release for audiences and themselves.

That drive is what we get in What Happened, Miss Simone. The film is an archival look at one of the great jazz and blues singers of the 20th century: Nina Simone. Starting with her childhood, the film takes us through her training as a classical pianist. Her dream of being the first black female classical pianist is what drove her to New York to train at Juilliard and then to Philadelphia to attempt acceptance at the Curtis Institute; however, she was denied acceptance. From this point, she had to find a way to earn money. So, she adopted the stage name of Nina Simone, and the rest is history. The film follows her career and her evolution from popular musician to civil rights figure to her decline following the 60s and finally to the steady conclusion of her career. It pulls  no punches in the mentioning and discussing of her demons, and gives us a strong picture of the woman behind the piano.

The first 45 minutes or so of the film is pretty standard documentary stuff. It starts a bit creatively before settling down into a more paint-by-numbers affair. What Happened, Miss Simone draws heavily from archival footage and interview to piece together Miss Simone’s life and career. We here much of her tale from her own mouth over footage  of her performing or living life. And really, the first half of the doc isn’t that great. Her story is certainly interesting, but it feels a bit drawn out.

It isn’t until we arrive at the second half of the movie and the peak of her career that things really get interesting. Once the focus is shifted to Miss Simone’s slow envelopment into the Civil Rights cause that we begin to see a better picture of the artist. This is a woman that rubbed shoulders with Langston Hughes, Lorraine Hansberry, and Malcolm X. In fact, Malcolm X’s wife was the godmother of Nina’s daughter. The civil rights movement greatly impacted Nina’s career to the point that her political ideas and agenda devoured her stage material. The movie attributes this obsession to her decline in popularity in the 70s.

The remainder of the film is better paced as we’re getting into the meatier part of the material. It is in these moments that we see the personal struggles that she was dealing with. Her demons that kept rising up to destroy her. In a great move, we see sections of letters or journals that spell out the dark issues that were haunting her: mostly in the form of  her abusive marriage. This darkness spread as her marriage crumbled and Nina began to abuse her  daughter. It is in this intimate, tragic moments that the levity of the documentary comes crashing down on the viewer. There are some very emotional, powerful moments in back half of this film.

Liz Garbus’ creative direction shines in the pieces of Nina she allows us to see through still photographs, archival footage, and so forth. Garbus also does a phenomenal job of painting moments and establishing a stage to then display Miss Simone’s performances. These raw performances enhance the emotional nature of what we’re seeing and hearing and it really drives the work home. The film then pushes towards a finish line by recounting Nina’s late career resurgence while living in Europe while also highlighting her struggles with what was diagnosed as manic depressive and bipolar disorders. This is punctuated with talking head sequences from her daughter, friends, and other acquaintances. The final moments of the film greatly tug at the heartstrings to powerful effect.

Final Decree: 7.5/10 – What Happened, Miss Simone gets off to a cold start, but once the motor gets running it takes off and does some great work. The last half of the film is a much better viewing than the first half. That being said, I don’t know that it has a lot to offer in the long run. It is great as a biography, and it works well as a history lesson – pointing us back to a time of prejudice and hatred and challenges us to question if things have really come that far at all.

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