Review of What Happened, Miss Simone? (2015) by Hector E — 27 Jun 2015

I didn't know anything about Nina Simone outside of her two most famous (and polar opposite) songs: "My Baby Just Cares for Me" and "Mississippi Goddam," so to see her performing was a revelation for me. Riveting.

The movie, however, suffers from a lack of talking heads. Everyone interviewed is someone who was close to her; there is very little outside perspective or context. Her later years, as she struggled with mental illness and poverty, are covered too quickly, too--things go from 1976 to the end in less than 10 minutes of screen time.

That they are making a Hollywood bio-pic and casting Zoe Saldana is laughable and insulting.