I Am The Blues (2016)
A musical journey through the swamps of the Louisiana Bayou, the juke joints of the Mississippi Delta and Moonshine soaked BBQs in the North Mississippi Hill Country. Visiting the last original blues devils, many in their 80's, still living in the deep south, working without management and touring the Chitlin' Circuit. Let Bobby Rush, Barbara Lynn, Henry Gray, Carol Fran, Lazy Lester, Bilbo Walker, RL Boyce, Jimmy 'Duck' Holmes, Lil Buck Sinegal, LC Ulmer and their friends awaken the blues in all of us.
Watch Trailer
Cast
Reviews
Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.
It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.
It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.
what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.
This is not so much a documentary as an invitation to a party with Bobby Rush as a casual guide. There's no discernible structure to the film, and the various players come and go - some not properly introduced until the final reel -but it is nonetheless a tremendous joy simply to be allowed to spend a little time with each and every person. Though many in this group are 80 years old and older, all but one appear to still have both their talent and their wit.
This doc is truly the rawest films I have ever seen and I mean that in a great way. No character in this film is faking who they are...true to the bone. Visually, this doc takes you to places the time has forgotten. They don't have much but what they do with what they have is a joy to witness. It's a bit of an emotional roller coaster because most of the character will not be around much longer. The many characters take turns telling stories about the past, present and future in such a way that ties the entire doc together. If you enjoy the blues in it's the rawest form and you want to know about the people who sleep, eat and drink the blues, this film is for you.
The film captures real, raw footage of people who live and love the blues despite being passed over by fame and fortune. It's an important live recording of a quickly disappearing link between modern blues musicians and veterans who still remember the originators of the art form from early in the last century. It's important to remember those roots and what these people went through to ensure the art form endured. As an added bonus it provides footage of some very talented people who may have otherwise been forgotten. Each of the musicians profiled had fleeting success and fame at some point but to a person, they seem to take everything in stride and maintain a love of the blues that doesn't need outside approval or adoration.
This is, without a shadow of a doubt, one of the greatest documentaries ever produced; and certainly the greatest regarding the lives of musicians. It's a film that stays with you long after you've watched it. Relatively devoid of any simple narrative structure, it consists of a series of interviews and observations of social gatherings of some of history's (wrongly) forgotten blues musicians. Almost equal to the music is the protagonists' capacity to talk endlessly about any issue under the sun. More than recording the thought and process of writing songs, the film ultimately becomes a meditation on the value of life as death approaches. It is inspiring to see how a group of tough old guys and girls have succeeded in transcending their material circumstances to create something truly beautiful.