Review of Nina (2016) by Nikolayg — 07 Aug 2016

A tour de force for Zoe Saldana, who actually does all the singing in this film; this is easily the best performance of her career. She deserves an Oscar for this movie. The pc complaints that she is somehow donning "black face" because her skin was darkened and features altered for the role, is absurd.

Black face is designed to mock black people. It's supposed to look fake. The efforts the filmmakers went to to make Zoe appear more like her subject is not unlike similar efforts implemented in any number of other films, such as some starring Daniel Day-Lewis.

People who simply wanted an actress who was a carbon copy of what Nina Simone looked like on the outside without regard to acting ability or - and this is most critical - singing ability, are being frankly ridiculous, and those who cry racism should be ashamed of themselves.

It would have been likely impossible to get anyone other than Zoe fit for this role in both singing and acting ability. To use Nina's own tracks would have been too fake and unnatural stuck into an actress's mouth like some old 50s musical.

Zoe had the guts to go for this and luckily, incredibly, the voice to pull it off. If you have any interest in Zoe or Nina Simone you should watch this movie. It follows Nina Simone in the 1990s as she's trying to recover from her abuse of alcohol and her other issues, to make a comeback, incorporating several flashbacks from her younger years.

A fascinating portrait.