Bessie

Out of all of this, including the aforementioned excesses--which are, it should be said, carried off with style--there emerges a brawling, crowded and unfailingly compelling film.

A beautifully affecting biopic about the tragic and glorious life of blues pioneer Bessie Smith, showcasing a gutsy, soul-and flesh-baring performance by Queen Latifah in the title role.

This trio of formidable women [Queen Latifah, Mo’Nique, and Khandi Alexander]--playing Smith, mentor Ma Rainey, and Smith’s hissable sister Viola, respectively--bring all of their firepower, often elevating the film from workmanlike to extraordinary with their collective ferocity.

What's missing, unfortunately, is any attempt to explain that music--to tell us what made Smith stand out, to examine her impact on other singers, and to give us a sense of the extent of her popularity. And yet, while those flaws are not unimportant, they're also unlikely to be what you'll remember most. No, that will be Latifah, glowing with pleasure after a song well sung, screaming with agony after another betrayal, risking and exposing everything as a performer. She's a star, born yet again.

Director Dee Rees lends the film grit, even when it's singing a familiar tune. But this is really a showcase for the actors. [15 May 2015, p.54]

It does bear the compromises and conventions that routinely afflict biographical dramas.... But it's no worse in this respect than most such films and better than many — rarely cornball and, indeed, conceivably less melodramatic than the life it portrays. And it's always well played.

Bessie doesn’t poke into deep psychology. It’s more a snapshot of an impressive, self-made life--with a great soundtrack.

Bessie is a thoughtful and at times stirring example of how a film can add texture to a legendary figure.

For such a volatile character, Latifah gives a refreshingly restrained performance, and her commanding stillness imbues gravitas into a number of key scenes. She conveys Smith's toughness and earthy sensuality, keeping the demons that drive her forward or nudge her toward self-destruction largely internalized.

One of the greatest blues singers of all time, Smith may simply be too big for the movie to contain. Luckily, Latifah’s towering portrayal gives her the magnetic and indelible portrait she deserves.

This sexually-charged, intense look at Blues icon Bessie Smith often feels defiantly episodic, as if co-writer/director Dee Rees is purposefully trying to sketch a portrait of a life in incomplete brush strokes, but Latifah, who is in nearly every scene, never falters in her portrayal of a woman who was too edgy, too real, and too tough to be famous before the world came crashing down around her.

Bessie, with a gorgeous soundtrack performed largely by Latifah, tells this story in far less simplistic fashion. Rees dramatizes Smith’s demons in powerful, sometimes chaotic fashion, jumping back in time to show her as an abused child and depicting her adult life in vignettes that don’t always flow together.

If the first half of the film seems slightly more engaging than the second, it’s because it has more music. Queen Latifah should be a slam dunk for an Emmy nomination for playing Bessie, but she deserves even more praise for helping contemporary audiences understand the power of Bessie’s blues.

The performances are splendid throughout, starting with Latifah.... Coupled with the plentiful music, those assets largely overcome the fact that the movie itself is somewhat scattered, narratively speaking, not so much ending as simply covering different aspects of Smith’s colorful life before running out of time.

Powerful story. A shame Bessie rarely conveys the story's emotional wallop.

Latifah and Rainey can sure sing out, though. It’s a pleasure to watch and hear them wail in a film that otherwise doesn’t quite cut it.

The film's conception of Bessie is sentimental, but the visceral sensuality of Latifah's presence eclipses it, as she informs every gesture with body language that's subtly graceful in its bluntness, clouding where Bessie's sense of overcompensation for her early family life ends and where her biological hungers begin.

The musical numbers are terrific, and the film has its strong moments.... But these individual, scattered scenes don’t add up to a cohesive story, which marks Bessie as a disappointing missed opportunity.