What Happened, Miss Simone?

2015 Directed by Liz Garbus

Her story. Her voice.

The film chronicles Nina Simone's journey from child piano prodigy to iconic musician and passionate activist, told in her own words.

Nina Simone Lisa Simone Dick Gregory Stanley Crouch Elisabeth Henry-Macari

Alternative Title

니나 시몬 : 영혼의 노래

music documentary

101 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by laird ★★★★½ 1

Paraphrasing a subject: "Participating in civil rights activism was rough on any family. Now imagine being a genius woman when that wasn't something society was ready to recognize... Nina Simone wasn't at odd with the times. The times were at odds with her."
Heartbreaking and beautiful. It's not going to win any awards for form, but the archival content and research more than make up for its plainness. I would have watched this as a multi-part miniseries that expanded on each part of Nina Simone's career, but as a feature length overview that appropriately focuses the majority of its time on her shift from pop-star to radical, it's still pretty great. Why isn't this in theaters?
(Just kidding, I can think of a few reasons why... America, goddamn)
Review by davidehrlich ★★★ 3

far too staid for such a revolutionary woman, but Nina shines through via brilliant archival footage.
it's 2015. Jay Leno is off tv, we have flying meth drones, an orange man is speaker of the house. time to retire talking heads in docs.
Review by sprizzle ★★★★

If you're not familiar with Miss Nina Simone, you need to watch this documentary. Certain documentaries come out and are important. This is one of those documentaries. One of the biggest popular culture figures in the civil rights movement, Miss Simone played a crucial part in motivating young, gifted, and black students across America. She was extremely controversial, especially when her focus shifted towards a more a violent message. But she was determined to do whatever it took. If that meant losing her spotlight, so be it.
An extremely gifted musician and an even more interesting figure in American culture. The documentary does a great job of piecing together tons of old footage of Nina Simone and other public figures at the time. A great job of weaving in some made footage with the found footage. It accomplishes exactly what it wants to and I hope a lot of people get to see it.
Review by russman ★★★ 1

We've reached a point as a society where subtitles are needed to read cursive handwriting
Review by Graham Williamson ★★★½ 4

How do you get to Carnegie Hall? It's a harder question than I expected.
Liz Garbus's new documentary is a very conventional piece of craft, full of Ken Burns pans across old photographs and diary entries. But it's also a very focused work, blessedly free of Bono and Sting blabbering about how they've always been a big fan of whoever it is you're making a documentary about. What you get in place of this is a small cast of characters chosen on the basis of who knew Nina Simone best. Nobody, of course, can beat Nina's daughter Lisa Simone Kelly on that basis, and I enjoyed her interviews a lot. My favourite interviewee was Ambassador Shabazz, Malcolm X's daughter, whose…
Review by Jonathan White ★★★½ 2

Yes, it is confirmed that I live under a rock. A week or so past I watched one of this year’s doc nominees, Amy, and was flabbergasted by the talent of this tortured young performer. Ok, that I could have an excuse for – I’m old, and I don’t follow the pop like I used to. But there’s no excuse for this. I grew up in the 60’s, and this is the first time I’ve heard of Nina Simone.
Miss Simone is a completely different tortured artist. As Lis Garbus’s picture paints, she’s tortured both physically and also by her inner demons. My father studied to be a concert pianist, and I know the talent and dedication needed; there’s only…

Recent reviews

Review by Omar Salas Zamora ★★★

A standard talking heads documentary.
The archive footage of Nina in concert is completely magnificent. Never looked better.
Review by vicgomes ★★★★

the use of unseen footage and full songs that showcased what she was growing through in their life, this doc reflects nina’s life in a great manner. she was very very talented and to see that, even though her husband was awful, she had the help she need from her friends and was able to succeed afterwards is heartwarming.
Review by Richard Gallon ★★★

Netflix Originals Month
A rather by-the-numbers affair using archival footage from interviews with the woman herself to tell her story, what makes this documentary more than the sum of its parts is Simone’s unflinching personality as she talks through her life and experiences, giving an deep edge to the narrative as she fought for civil rights to become a leading figure of the movement at the time.
Review by George Crosthwait ★★ 2

An extremely "by-the-book" documentary that is worth watching for its compelling subject and necessarily amazing soundtrack.
How's this for a thought? I see you have all this great Nina Simone concert and archive footage. How about letting us watch that rather than letting some nobody talking head didactically talk all over it? (especially not her abusive husband)
Review by silvia ★★★★★

9,9
Review by nora ★★★½

nina simone was a genius and she deserved so much better than the hand she was dealt
Review by Sydney Lawson ★★★★

Wow what a woman, what a story
Review by jackie_day ★★★★

Moving and educational.
With mom new year's day.
Review by brandon ★★★★★

music is such a painful industry for black people to work in.