Synopsis
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.
2015 Directed by Liz Garbus
The film chronicles Nina Simone's journey from child piano prodigy to iconic musician and passionate activist, told in her own words.
Adam Del Deo Amy Hobby Liz Garbus Justin Wilkes Sidney Beaumont Lisa Nishimura Adrienne Collatos Lisa Simone
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)
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.
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.
We've reached a point as a society where subtitles are needed to read cursive handwriting
"What Happened, Miss Simone" is an excellent documentary that covers the tortured life of a true musical legend, Nina Simone. This film doesn't hold anything back as it highlights some of the most intimate details of her tumultuous life. From being a figurehead of the civil rights movement, to enduring physical spousal abuse, to mental health issues that went unchecked during a time where the field was severely lacking, to mismanagement of money and a declining lifestyle. This film covers it all in a stark and brutally honest way. Where most documentaries tend to edify the subject matter this film manages to restrain itself from positive or negative judgement for the most part. In the end we see a three dimensional human being that despite enduring many struggles had the constant and burning passion for music that gave her and the world so much joy.
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…
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…
disturbingly uncritical about the abuse she suffered and centers her abuser too much
You need more than a mere 100 minutes to get beyond the surface of what made up the genius that was Nina Simone. Liz Garbus' documentary is as complicated as the beautiful woman herself; at times sending conflicting messages, at others giving us a rare insight into her glorious individualism.
Maya Angelou posed the question framed in the title, pondering a period during the 70's when Nina all but disappeared from public life. So you would think it would focus primarily on that time, yet the title feels a little too broadly spread to query the wider context of Nina's career and loses some credibility because of that. We do eventually get to hear of her departure to Africa and…
Opening with a quote from another extremely influential black woman, Maya Angelou:
"Miss Simone, you are idolized, even loved, by millions now. But what happened, Miss Simone?"
This documentary does it's best to explain that. Still, you finish it wanting to know more.
☆"We all wanted to say it. She said it. 'Mississippi Goddam'!"☆
Because there are still 11 days to go in this month of March, Netflix has many excellent options to stream for Women's History Month. Among them is Liz Garbus' Oscar-nominated documentary -- and the recipient of an incredible six Emmy nominations, winning for Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special -- What Happened, Miss Simone? The titular subject, the eclectic singer/songwriter and musician who dabbled in countless genres, would rather be remembered for her tireless activism despite her legendary career.
A child prodigy, the North Carolina-born Eunice Kathleen Waymon studied to be the nation's first black female classical pianist in the 1940s and 50s. With the help of her town and…
Nina Simones Karriere begann als einfache Musikerin, bevor sie zur radikalen Aktivisten für Menschenrechte wurde, nur um dann wieder von der großen Bühne zu verschwinden. "What Happened, Miss Simone?" stellt ihre Geschichte chronologisch vor und wirft dabei einen ungeschönten Blick auf seine Protagonistin. Das ist vielleicht etwas entzaubernd, dafür aber umso bodenständiger und ehrlicher. Anders hätte es bei Nina Simone wohl auch nicht funktioniert.
Noch niemand war in den 60ern bereit für eine Frau wie sie. Und mal ehrlich: viele Menschen wären es auch heute nicht.
What a beautiful and sad story. Not so much a radical and perfect telling, but thorough and heartbreaking highly recommend
"She was African royalty. How can royalty stomp around in the mud, and still be able to walk with grace?"
This film sets a great standard for biopics. A good balance of archive footage, performance, and interview showing her art in it’s true, tragic context: personal and political. It’s entertaining and moving all the way through, especially if you love her music. But it feels like it could go a bit deeper and work even better if it were twice as long.
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