Catch it on Blu-Ray: Bessie
For those of you who enjoy narratives of the tumultuous off-stage lives of entertainers, Dee Rees directed a biopic featuring the life of American Blues singer Bessie Smith.
Starring Queen Latifah as the Empress of the Blues, Bessie tells an engaging story about humble beginnings, a star rising and then dimming. The cast plays well off each other and includes Mo’nique as Ma Rainey, Smith’s primary showbiz mentor and sometimes rival, Michael Kenneth Williams as husband Jack Gee, and Khandi Alexander as sister Viola. These actors and the rest of the ensemble deliver a believable story about the singer’s complex personal relationships and the hostilities she faced as a black performer in the 1920s and 1930s.
Although the film gives even screen time to the highs and lows of Bessie Smith’s life, all events seemed to be soaked in some terrible contexts. For instance, the film repeatedly drives home the point of Smith’s toughness when it came to protecting herself and others, so that means we repeatedly see Smith under some kind of attack.
All in all, this movie does not make the required viewing list, but if you are looking for a movie about a woman living on her own terms and facing the cost of those choices, this could be an empowering watch.
