It really is a superb turn, and her Oscar nomination is a worthy one. She sings magnificently, with the right sensuous, emotional, slightly raspy tones, and she captures the fierce energy, the bitterness, the tragic self-awareness, and the poignant longing for a happiness she can’t quite handle when she does attain it.
I haven’t seen that film, but I might hope it’s a better film than this one – even if I couldn’t ask for a better Holiday than Day (who took her stage name from Holiday’s own nickname, “Lady Day”). Her legacy, however, is eternal, and Time names “Strange Fruit” the song of the century.Īnd although the film doesn’t mention it, this isn’t even the first major Holiday biopic in 1972, we had Lady Sings the Blues, which earned Diana Ross an Oscar nomination. She remains defiant to the end, but dies penniless and in the clutches of the Bureau. Holiday, however, is fighting a losing battle against her own demons, including a string of abusive and exploitative relationships (both with her managers and her lovers – who are sometimes one and the same), heroin addiction, and the traumas of her abusive childhood. But Fletcher begins to feel guilt over what he’s doing, and begins to truly fall in love with Holiday. Anslinger also recruits black agent Jimmy Fletcher (Trevante Rhodes) to pose as a fan with a crush so he can find – or place – the evidence to make the charges stick. But she does so in spite of the film she’s in, which is very badly written, poorly directed, over-edited, and in general something of a mess.īroadly covering the last 12 years of Holiday’s life, it focuses on her struggles with the Bureau of Narcotics, led by the crusading Harry Anslinger (Garrett Hedlund), who want to silence her, especially from singing “Strange Fruit,” by repeatedly charging her with drug possession and ensuring she has no cabaret license. And while I don’t think she should’ve won over those performances, she does a very fine job in her own right, not only in the concert scenes but in the scenes depicting Holiday’s tragic, turbulent life. If it was a slight surprise when Andra Day managed to get a Golden Globe nomination (in Drama, even though the film should’ve been considered a Musical), it was a huge upset when she actually won, beating Carey Mulligan, Frances McDormand, and Viola Davis.
And the highest priority film of them is the only acting nominee I haven’t seen…
I’ve since seen five of them, leaving seven films, all but one of which ( Mulan) have but one nomination. In addition to all the nominees for International Film, Animated Feature, and Documentary Feature, there were 12 nominated films I needed to see. Shortly after the Oscar nominations, I took stock of the nominated films I hadn’t yet seen.
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