THE UNITED STATES vs. BILLIE HOLIDAY
***
Director: Lee Daniels
Screenplay: Suzan-Lori Parks, based on Johann Hari’s book Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs.
Principal cast:
Andra Day
Trevante Rhodes
Garrett Hedlund
Lawrence ‘Miss Lawrence’ Washington
Da’Vine Joy Randolph
Natasha Lyonne
Country: USA
Classification: MA15+
Runtime: 130 mins.
Australian release date: 22 April 2021.
Lee Daniels’ latest film, The United States Vs. Billie Holiday, joins a group of recent movies examining the often malign influence of the FBI when it was under the decades-long direction of J. Edgar Hoover, films like Judas And The Black Messiah and Seberg. In his new work, the director of Precious and The Butler looks at the persecution of the revolutionary blues and jazz singer, Billie Holiday, and suggests that her nemesis, the Federal Bureau of Narcotics’ Harry J. Anslinger, was motivated by racial hatred rather than his proclaimed ‘war on drugs’. As the great music journo Ralph J. Gleason wrote in Rolling Stone in 1973, “[Holiday] could take you in her voice and carry you away, on down whatever road she was travelling. She stands alone in American music, she stood alone then and she stands alone now, in her ability to make it live, to give you instantly the picture of the song, the feeling of the lyrics and the intensity of meaning,” and it was that ability that scared the FBI. Especially when she sang Strange Fruit, a protest song that was a cri de coeur about the lynching of African Americans in the southern USA that was still going on in the first half of the 20th century. A white agent says in the film, “Those lyrics provoke people” and the NAACP described her as “the voice of our people;” as a result, the Bureau went out of their way to see that she couldn’t sing those incendiary words, even if it meant breaking the law.
The United States Vs. Billie Holiday begins in 1957 at a New York jazz club called Café Society that was a mixed-race venue before it flashes back 10 years. In 1947, Billie (an incredible debut performance from singer Andra Day) is already a huge star and is also into marijuana, heroin and booze but, at that stage, being stoned didn’t have an impact on her singing ability. Indeed, she seemed to feel that she could go deeper into the music when she was a bit high. It was the year that Anslinger (a suitably nasty Garrett Hedlund) oversaw a raid on her apartment that led to her arrest and the court case that gave Daniels the title of his film. Sentenced to gaol, the conviction meant that Holiday’s New York City Cabaret Card was revoked, so that, when released, she was unable to perform in clubs that sold alcohol. The result was a series of concert hall gigs and a tour of the States, which is when Anslinger hit upon the idea of infiltrating her entourage with a Black narcotics agent, Jimmy Fletcher (Trevante Rhodes from Moonlight). What Anslinger hadn’t anticipated was that Fletcher would fall for Holiday in a big way. We then follow her life, love story and career until her tragic, untimely death in hospital, but even when she was sick in bed Anslinger wouldn’t leave her alone. She died at the tender age of 44 in 1959.
The problem with the screenplay of The United States Vs. Billie Holiday, which was written by the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Suzan-Lori Parks, is that the twin plot lines of the love story and the police persecution don’t gel well, despite the lynchpin of Agent Fletcher. They seem to run in parallel to each other, rather than intertwine and cross over. Parks’ script is drawn out, too, at over two hours. Where the film does excel is in the performances: Andra Day embodies ‘Lady Day’ and her singing in the style of Holiday has to be heard to be believed. She is incredible and her performance has already earned her a Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama and an Oscar nomination. Rhodes does good work as the conflicted, love-struck narcotics agent and Hedlund is terrifically vile as the awful Harry Anslinger. Supports are excellent, too, particularly ‘Miss Lawrence’ and Randolph.
The United States Vs. Billie Holiday may not be the best movie you’ll see this year but it does feature one of the best performances of 2021. You should not miss seeing Day as ‘Day’, and her stunning rendition of Strange Fruit.
Screenplay: Suzan-Lori Parks, based on Johann Hari’s book Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs.
Principal cast:
Andra Day
Trevante Rhodes
Garrett Hedlund
Lawrence ‘Miss Lawrence’ Washington
Da’Vine Joy Randolph
Natasha Lyonne
Country: USA
Classification: MA15+
Runtime: 130 mins.
Australian release date: 22 April 2021.
Lee Daniels’ latest film, The United States Vs. Billie Holiday, joins a group of recent movies examining the often malign influence of the FBI when it was under the decades-long direction of J. Edgar Hoover, films like Judas And The Black Messiah and Seberg. In his new work, the director of Precious and The Butler looks at the persecution of the revolutionary blues and jazz singer, Billie Holiday, and suggests that her nemesis, the Federal Bureau of Narcotics’ Harry J. Anslinger, was motivated by racial hatred rather than his proclaimed ‘war on drugs’. As the great music journo Ralph J. Gleason wrote in Rolling Stone in 1973, “[Holiday] could take you in her voice and carry you away, on down whatever road she was travelling. She stands alone in American music, she stood alone then and she stands alone now, in her ability to make it live, to give you instantly the picture of the song, the feeling of the lyrics and the intensity of meaning,” and it was that ability that scared the FBI. Especially when she sang Strange Fruit, a protest song that was a cri de coeur about the lynching of African Americans in the southern USA that was still going on in the first half of the 20th century. A white agent says in the film, “Those lyrics provoke people” and the NAACP described her as “the voice of our people;” as a result, the Bureau went out of their way to see that she couldn’t sing those incendiary words, even if it meant breaking the law.
The United States Vs. Billie Holiday begins in 1957 at a New York jazz club called Café Society that was a mixed-race venue before it flashes back 10 years. In 1947, Billie (an incredible debut performance from singer Andra Day) is already a huge star and is also into marijuana, heroin and booze but, at that stage, being stoned didn’t have an impact on her singing ability. Indeed, she seemed to feel that she could go deeper into the music when she was a bit high. It was the year that Anslinger (a suitably nasty Garrett Hedlund) oversaw a raid on her apartment that led to her arrest and the court case that gave Daniels the title of his film. Sentenced to gaol, the conviction meant that Holiday’s New York City Cabaret Card was revoked, so that, when released, she was unable to perform in clubs that sold alcohol. The result was a series of concert hall gigs and a tour of the States, which is when Anslinger hit upon the idea of infiltrating her entourage with a Black narcotics agent, Jimmy Fletcher (Trevante Rhodes from Moonlight). What Anslinger hadn’t anticipated was that Fletcher would fall for Holiday in a big way. We then follow her life, love story and career until her tragic, untimely death in hospital, but even when she was sick in bed Anslinger wouldn’t leave her alone. She died at the tender age of 44 in 1959.
The problem with the screenplay of The United States Vs. Billie Holiday, which was written by the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Suzan-Lori Parks, is that the twin plot lines of the love story and the police persecution don’t gel well, despite the lynchpin of Agent Fletcher. They seem to run in parallel to each other, rather than intertwine and cross over. Parks’ script is drawn out, too, at over two hours. Where the film does excel is in the performances: Andra Day embodies ‘Lady Day’ and her singing in the style of Holiday has to be heard to be believed. She is incredible and her performance has already earned her a Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama and an Oscar nomination. Rhodes does good work as the conflicted, love-struck narcotics agent and Hedlund is terrifically vile as the awful Harry Anslinger. Supports are excellent, too, particularly ‘Miss Lawrence’ and Randolph.
The United States Vs. Billie Holiday may not be the best movie you’ll see this year but it does feature one of the best performances of 2021. You should not miss seeing Day as ‘Day’, and her stunning rendition of Strange Fruit.