What Happened, Miss Simone? (2015)

Thanks for the memories!

hyped garbage

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

Why wait till the end of the movie to finally suggest that the reason why Nina Simone was unhappy was because she was bipolar, then maybe we can follow through the entire movie knowing that we're just looking at a crazy woman! I'm confused is she the one to blame for the beatings she took from her husband, for living in a time of racism where it was not even permitted to discuss trauma, for being turned down to go to a school because she was African-American; only to be acknowledged after her death,for her political involvement with civil rights movement, which has always been considered taboo, for being poor, for living in fear of a lynching, for not being permitted to be a mother - just for living in fear! Hey! While you're at it, you can just write her out of the movie all together and just say this is how you become bipolar! This is what happens to women when they are given too much responsibility! We love that story! She can't take care of herself. As long as the men took care of the bills, she couldn't possibly understand the bills. Even in her final moments, she is not heard. It all falls on deaf ears Nina! They're not listening! They can't hear you! They gave you the pills so you could just keep playing! It's three strikes and you're out - African-American, woman, mental illness! I can't imagine a place anywhere and in anytime that a woman like this was not spotted on the street and cared for? Was that the state of mind during the civil rights movement? Can you answer me that question? You are telling me not one person, not a friend,family, or fan came to take care of her? I mean manic-depression has been around quite a long time! Centuries! There has always been people who have it and have been around to treat it. It didn't just happen in the last ten years! I'm sick of the big finale of bipolarism/mental illness! Why not do what has always been done when a writer/director doesn't know how to end a story - just staple a deuce ex machine to it and call it a day! Perfect rags to riches story, hey? Why even mention a mental illness? So those of us who suffer can say, well that's why we'll never be an important part of society! Or those of us who don't suffer as much can button it with, oh thank heavens she got help! Maybe a better ending might be triumphant? The husband is put in jail, finally justice served! By the way, since we are airing out the dirty laundry, what about the husband? What was his mental illness diagnosis? That he was a man and times were different? He gets a pass? The daughter? Anyone with the correct information knows that it runs in the family. How about tieing things up with a prompting of intolerance? Or don't women, African-American and those suffering with mental illness deserve some tolerance? And don't think I didn't miss that you are quick to label an abused woman as bipolar, which is why I asked the question at the beginning. Isn't this what the movie was about? Creating more intolerance! That is why they smacked the mental illness label onto Nina and the ending of the movie: so we could all feel like we were in the same company with the intolerant, nice and cosy. It is a mirror of our intolerance. It's just an easier explanation than and less taboo to just say she lost her fame because of bipolarism and easier to diagnose as she is a woman. Whatever, bravo to the director for an ignorant message! I loved seeing the original footage, but the the director should be cremated! Nina you're not alone. You were never alone. We women are all still dieing silently - African-American, or pathetically diagnosed with a mental illness - for all our tries.

If you have Netflix streaming, you really should see this fascinating documentary!! Though I lived through the 50s and 60s, I don't remember Nina Simone (born in 1933 in North Carolina as Eunice Waymon) except in a very obscure way: an expatriated American icon of some sort. Yet, she had unbelievable talents that broke all boundaries of instrumental and vocal performing. From childhood, she was trained in classical piano and was ready to become the first Black Woman to perform in Carnegie Hall. However, due to her life circumstances, she became something else. She became someone with totally unique abilities—abilities and feelings that transcended all types of music, poetry, and social activism. Yet, she had a very tragic life that is a story in itself.I have never seen a documentary that so perfectly captures a life of a very complicated person as well as this one did!! What's equally amazing is that there were so many video clips available (from so many different venues and over so much time) to use in putting this story personal story together. How does one talk about Nina Simone and her life? How do you classify her music or performing skills? Is it classical piano—gospel—jazz—soul— folk—social activism —poetry—or what? She wrote many songs that only she could written: she was the first black American to really express, in music, what so many people could only express in words (Malcolm X, James Baldwin), plays (Lorraine Hansberry) or poetry (Langston Hughes). And--as a black WOMAN--she expressed the anger that black men could not hope to at the time as in "Mississippi Goddam."Her songs are also about freedom as well as her search to find her black identity as in "To be Young Gifted and Black" (inspired by Loranie Hansberry's play).I'm convinced that the only way—or at least the best way--to BEGIN to understand Nina Simone is through this great documentary that follows her life from her childhood to death in the south of France!! Both her daughter and her former husband are narrators of the documentary, which gives us even more insight into her struggles.

Reviewed by: Dare Devil Kid (DDK)Rating: 3.6/5 stars"What Happened, Miss Simone?" is an often electric, mostly pulsating, well-presented, heartfelt, but at times, too simplistic, unchallenging, and hurried documentary on a great singer's and enigmatic showperson's troubled and complex life. On stage Nina Simone was known for her utterly free, uninhibited musical expression, which enthralled audiences and attracted lifelong fans. But amid the violent, haunting, and senseless day-to-day tribulations of the civil rights era in 1960s America, Simone struggled to reconcile her artistic identity and ambition with her devotion to a movement. Culled from hours of autobiographical tapes and video logs, this documentary unveils the unmitigated ego of a brilliant artist and the absurdities of her life and time.The film overreaches in casting Nina Simone as a standard-bearer against racism and sexism, but, at the same time, it's filled with mesmerizing clips from throughout her performing career as well as numerous interviews of the artist and those closest to her, both through audio and on film. Director Liz Garbus is not just satisfied with recounting a biography; instead she presents to us a very painful journey through the career and motives of an ambivalent woman whose anger always exploded on stage, usually leaving a lump in the audience's throat and rapture in its eyes. Nevertheless, this is an intimate examination of the tragic life of the High Priestess of Soul. It may not answer the burning question: "What Happened, Miss Simone?", but it does tell us why the question must be asked and will be asked for a very long time.

This is a very powerful and passionate documentary that tells the life of the legendary Nina Simone in great fashion. With a brilliant collection of stock footage that not only looks at Simone as a music icon but also a hugely significant civil rights activist and a person, this is a fascinating and engrossing documentary.Going into this, I knew next to nothing about Nina Simone. The Civil Rights Movement has always been fascinating to me, but the musicians involved, I didn't think much.However, this documentary makes all of that even more enthralling to learn about, and extremely accessible to non-experts. If you haven't ever heard of Nina Simone, you can easily go into this film and be engrossed by the entire story.In terms of the way that this film tells the whole story, it's very impressive. Structurally, it's a bit of a by-the-books documentary, but if you get deeper into it, you discover that it's a very passionate and fitting tribute to Simone's life.The first period of the film details her rise to fame in the jazz world in the 1950s from her lowly beginnings in a southern town, and shows you all sorts of fascinating clips from her childhood that show what a struggle her journey was, and from her earliest performances that gave birth to a genius in the music industry.With interviews from both herself and her closest friends and family, you also get an extremely personal look into this story. For all of the hype surrounding her musical talent, there's still a very touching smaller story about Simone as a person. Ultimately, it's a sad story that she suffered so much from personal demons and domestic issues, however this film really allows you to empathise with a person that was, at her time, so aggressive and loud.That's where the story about her as a civil rights activist comes in. This film thinks very highly of her role in the entire movement, rightly placing her amidst historical titans like Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X and Stokely Carmichael. It talks about how she brought attention to the movement to a different crowd, and in a different way, and despite her disagreements with King's non-violent protest tactics and her support for a more aggressive approach, her importance cannot be understated.Overall, this is a great documentary, that not only gives you an accessible historical insight into the life of this incredible personality, but one that will both entertain and fully engross you.www.themadmovieman.com