Bessie

The camera has a love affair with Queen Latifah from beginning to end in this tour de force, a performance that may have been worthy of an Oscar, let alone the Emmy she is destined to receive. The movie was co-executive produced by the late Richard Zanuck, based on a story by the late Oscar winning screenwriter Horton Foote, and their posthumous talent is impressively displayed at every level.

The screenplay was smart enough not to try and convert the audience to liking the blues, which is always an acquired taste, instead focusing on the intense drama that was this woman's personal life, from childhood traumas (i.e. being chased by her older sister with a knife), to lesbian love affairs as a grown woman. Thanks mainly to Queen Latifah's amazing performance, a basketful of Emmys should be in the future for this bold and seriously worthy TV drama.

Bessie is a nicely produced flick about 'Bessie Smith the singer' with a little suggestion of 'Bessie Smith the person' sprinkled throughout the story. At movies end you don't feel you know something about her outside of her remarkable singing.

There are scenes of her rise from rags to riches and the family she tries to make but that's all you get through brief scenes and then it's back to her as a singer.

This isn't a bad movie, it's entertaining and Queen Latifah pulls out all the stops as Bessie the singer. But the ending leaves you pretty much where you were when you started the movie as far as Bessie the person is portrayed.

Well, i had very high expectations for this film after watching the trailer... but, it wasn't quite so. It actually was a good movie, but not what i expected. It could have been an epic, like La Mome or Ray, but it just missed that opportunity.

The story is somewhat incoherent, maybe it's the script, or just bad editing. There were some scenes that are short and take place in different times, so it becomes hard to follow and understand the story and the importance of those scenes. It's a little bit confusing at times and because of that the film loses flow. That is basically the one major flaw in this movie.

Apart from that, the actors did a great job, i've never seen Queen Latifah like this, she was wonderful. The music was great of course. The costumes, the set - beautiful.

In conclusion, i wouldn't call this a masterpiece, but it's not bad, i would recommend watching it on a Friday night with your loved one maybe. The plot is interesting, the music is wonderful, it sets that 20's mood and you'll have a great time for sure.

The year was 1972 and the challenge for director Sidney J. Furie was how to translate the biography of Billie Holliday into something that had "bite" for the mainstream.

He succeeded, in large part by his decision to make the story as much about the music as the personal travails of the famous singer.

At the time it seemed the obvious choice. Yet, flash forward 43 years and today the team behind this project, faced with the exact same choice, took the road less travelled.

It is not as if Queen L. does not have a set of pipes. After years of appearing in a string of "commodity" lifetime/lifestyle/X-mas movies -- in parts which leveraged off her infectious natural sweetness -- she stunned audiences worldwide with her performance of I KNOW WHERE I've BEEN in 2007.

(For the record, how perfect was she in that performance?? This reviewer has that song in every mix he owns and never gets tired of it. Her performance was so flawless that she could have won IDOL on that single track alone.)

This is a hard film to review. A lot of talent behind the camera, a lot of talent in front of the camera, and all of it hamstrung by the executive decision to downplay the music and focus on the strife.

Larger than life people have larger than life problems. But we already knew that. Personally, I missed the tunes.

Great performances and cinematography but just disappointing it just did not capture me. That's no criticism of the performances they were great.....it just misses the mark.

Firstly make your own mind up but for me knowing a bit about her life story it seems to lack any emotion. There's a coldness to it, kind of this happened then this happened. In one scene where Bessie faces her sister it seems just flashed through. Considering the history between them it should have been a much more powerful moment. The movie does not draw the viewer in. In my opinion it lacks any depth.

I guess the script writing is what's wrong but am no expert it just misses the mark. Great performance by QL. Not something I would think about watching again.