Janis: Little Girl Blue
| Release Date: November 27, 2015 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
74
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 20 Critic Reviews
Positive:
16
Mixed:
4
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Brad WheelerFeb 14, 2016
Comparisons of Janis: Little Girl Blue have been made to Asif Kapadia’s touching 2015 documentary on singer Amy Winehouse, but in Amy we don’t see a subject as remorseful as the Joplin presented by Berg. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeTy BurrJan 14, 2016
I’d like to think of the singer watching this movie somewhere, nodding in thanks at what it gets right and howling with laughter at what it misses. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesLorraine AliDec 3, 2015
From this pastiche Joplin emerges as we've never seen her before, articulate, ambitious, torn between her wild self and her desperate need for stability. Read full review
75
Washington PostMark JenkinsDec 3, 2015
Although Joplin’s brief life was eventful, its contradictions would stymie a tidy biopic. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChroniclePeter HartlaubDec 3, 2015
The documentary “Amy” left viewers feeling a little shame, as if the audience and society was an accessory in Winehouse’s death. Janis: Little Girl Blue is a more clinical treatment, with more complicated messages. Read full review
91
Entertainment WeeklyLeah GreenblattDec 3, 2015
The portrait that emerges is one of a brash, talented girl who grew up an outcast in her small Texas town. Read full review
80
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinNov 30, 2015
The unexpected element is a series of letters (some never before heard) Joplin wrote to her family back home in Port Arthur, Texas, read by Chan Marshall (a.k.a. Cat Power) in a voice that captures the cadences of Joplin’s speech without being an imitation. The letters are heartbreaking in their own way. Read full review
90
The New York TimesStephen HoldenNov 27, 2015
Although Ms. Berg’s enthralling film tells a story somewhat similar to “Amy,” Asif Kapadia’s recent documentary portrait of Amy Winehouse (who also died at 27), the demons that devoured Winehouse came from outside as much from within. Not so with Joplin. Read full review
75
New York PostFarran Smith NehmeNov 24, 2015
The movie doesn’t rise above its music-doc formula of photo, clip, talking head. But for fans — like me — it’s a heartfelt, engrossing tribute. Read full review
83
The A.V. ClubNoel MurrayNov 24, 2015
Whenever the story starts to drag, Berg cuts to a scene like Big Brother’s era-defining performance of “Ball And Chain” at Monterey, which had even Los Angeles’ prematurely jaded rock superstars gaping in justified awe. They knew they were watching something explosive, in a package too fragile to contain it. Read full review
88
Movie NationRoger MooreNov 24, 2015
A terrific film, not as moving or damning as this year’s Amy Winehouse expose, but a warm piece of cinematic scholarship. Read full review
80
Time OutJoshua RothkopfNov 24, 2015
Amy Berg’s deeply sympathetic documentary on Janis Joplin — a singer whose shredded wail tapped reservoirs of pain — gets so much right, it feels like a major act of cultural excavation. Read full review
75
Slant MagazineChuck BowenNov 22, 2015
It grounds us so effectively in Joplin's emotional realm as to partially rekindle the social transcendence that her voice must have represented for its owner. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneySep 19, 2015
While there are numerous dynamite performance clips, Berg's film is generally more revealing on a personal level than as an appreciation of her music. Read full review
75
The PlaylistKevin JagernauthSep 19, 2015
While aesthetically it doesn’t do much to break the form, it more than succeeds in presenting Joplin as a flawed, insecure, deeply brilliant woman who, unfortunately, couldn’t shake her demons. Read full review
80
VarietyGuy LodgeSep 19, 2015
Berg’s film is no stylistic innovator itself, but it’s the satisfying feature-length overview that Joplin’s brief, fiercely brilliant career has long merited. Read full review
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