The United States vs. Billie Holiday

The United States vs. Billie Holiday
Official promotional poster
Directed by	Lee Daniels
Screenplay by	Suzan-Lori Parks
Based on	Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs by Johann Hari
Produced by	Lee Daniels Jordan Fudge Tucker Tooley Joe Roth Jeff Kirschenbaum Pamela Oas Williams
Starring	Andra Day Trevante Rhodes Garrett Hedlund Leslie Jordan Miss Lawrence Adriane Lenox Natasha Lyonne Rob Morgan Da'Vine Joy Randolph Evan Ross Tyler James Williams
Cinematography	Andrew Dunn
Edited by	Jay Rabinowitz
Music by	Kris Bowers
Production companies	Lee Daniels Entertainment New Slate Ventures Roth/Kirschenbaum Films
Distributed by	Hulu
Release date	February 26, 2021 (2021-02-26) (United States)
Running time	130 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

The United States vs. Billie Holiday is a 2021 American biographical drama film about singer Billie Holiday, based on the book Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs by Johann Hari. Directed by Lee Daniels, the film stars Andra Day in the titular role, along with Trevante Rhodes, Garrett Hedlund, Leslie Jordan, Miss Lawrence, Adriane Lenox, Natasha Lyonne, Rob Morgan, Da'Vine Joy Randolph, Evan Ross, and Tyler James Williams.

Initially set to be released theatrically in the United States by Paramount Pictures, the film was sold to Hulu in December 2020 and digitally released in the United States on February 26, 2021. The United States vs. Billie Holiday received mixed reviews from critics; while Day's performance was praised, the direction and screenplay were criticized as unfocused. For her performance, Day was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress and won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama; the film was also nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song ("Tigress and Tweed").

Plot[]

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The film begins with text that in 1937, an anti-lynching bill was considered by the United States Senate, but did not pass. Billie Holiday rose to fame in part due to her song "Strange Fruit", about lynching. In 1957, Billie, accompanied by Freddy, meets with a radio journalist, Reginald Lord Devine, for an interview. He asks her what it is like to be a "colored woman" and about the trouble she keeps getting into because of "Strange Fruit". Billie says it is about human rights, something the government often forgets.

In 1947, Billie is giving a performance where among the audience are soldier Jimmy Fletcher, actress Tallulah Bankhead, Billie's husband Monroe, and her manager Joe Glaser. Roslyn and Monroe let fans meet Billie, but Monroe will not let Jimmy meet her. Later, Glaser and Monroe, who have become friendly with FBI agent Harry J. Anslinger, try to get Billie to cut "Strange Fruit" from her setlist. They say people high up in the government do not want to hear her sing it, and Monroe threatens her physically. Lester Young, Billie's sax player, supports her in playing it.

Anslinger tells other agents that Billie is a threat, her song promotes the wrong ideas, and she has not stopped singing it. Unable to arrest her for singing, they decide to go after her on drug charges. Billie and her lover Joe Guy do heroin together. Billie performs her next concert for servicemen, and also performs with Louis Armstrong. After the show, Jimmy goes to see Billie, and he witnesses her doing drugs.

At Billie's next performance, people in the audience yell at her to play "Strange Fruit". The manager orders her off the stage, the police charge, and Billie is hauled away by her band. Afterwards, the FBI, including Jimmy, who it turns out is not a soldier but an agent, show up at Joe's and arrest them for drug use and possession. Billie feels betrayed. At court, the media shame Billie. Anslinger congratulates Jimmy on his arrest. The judge sentences Billie to a year in jail. It is later revealed that Anslinger paid off Joe.

Freddy asks Jimmy why he did it. Jimmy says his father told him drugs would destroy their community. Freddy tells Jimmy that Billie was raped when she was ten and has been with abusive men, and she uses drugs to ease her deep pain. Anslinger tells Jimmy that they need to make sure Billie never sings again. Jimmy questions why Billie is such a problem. Anslinger tells Jimmy to go to the prison to lie to Billie, apologize, and get back in with her. Instead, Jimmy tells Billie to not trust anyone and warns her the FBI will continue to try to set her up.

After Billie is released from prison, she tells Roslyn and Lester about staying clean. She is also divorced from Monroe. Billie does a Carnegie Hall show where Jimmy and Anslinger are in attendance. An audience member asks her to sing "Strange Fruit", and she sadly declines. Billie's performance goes well. Her new manager, Ed, tells her that he has not been able to get her cabaret card back yet, so she cannot perform in clubs. Later, Billie meets John Levy, who tells her that he will pay off the right people to make sure she can keep singing in his clubs. John and Billie get into a relationship, and John shortens Billie's pay for every performance.

Tallulah is brought in by Anslinger and refuses to help him. Later, Tallulah tells Billie about it and also that she needs to get rid of John. Billie calls Joe and tries to score some drugs, but Joe says that they should stay clean. She gets drugs on her own.

At the club, John beats Billie for taking more of his money. Roslyn helps bandage her so she can perform. Billie stays clean for a while. John proposes to her, then slips drugs into her pocket just in time for the FBI to enter. In court, Jimmy admits that Billie was possibly framed, and she is freed. Anslinger, angry with Jimmy, sends him to follow Billie on her tour. In 1949, Jimmy comes to see Billie after a successful tour stop. He tells her the agency wants her to think he was fired. The whole crew is suspicious of him. To get him to prove he is with them, they have Jimmy do heroin.

On a tour trip, Billie sings "Strange Fruit" in the south, defying the local klan. Anslinger, furious, calls Jimmy to ask if Billie has done drugs on the road. He says no, but another agent is following him. Jimmy and Billie fall in love and eventually have sex. One day, after the bus breaks down, Billie abandons her band and crew, telling Jimmy he needs to find a nice girl, and that is not her. Louis McKay arrives to take Billie to the next gig. Heartbroken, Jimmy returns to work, where Sam Williams tells him he has been moved over to administration and replaced by Sam.

Billie marries Louis. The marriage is abusive and full of drug use. The police once again catch them using and try to send them to jail, but they escape jail time. Anslinger meets with Louis and tells him to plant heroin on Billie. Jimmy comes to a show, comes backstage and kisses Billie. Louis walks in, the two fight, and Louis leaves. Later, Billie tells Jimmy she has liver failure. In the hospital, Jimmy stays with her. Louis comes to the hospital and gets in an altercation with Jimmy. Sam comes to get Jimmy out; Anslinger comes to plant drugs on her. He tells Billie and Louis that if she cooperates, she will never see them again. Billie tells him that his grandkids will be singing "Strange Fruit" one day.

Text is shown that on July 17, 1959, Billie died at 44. Narcotics agents claimed to have found heroin and arrested her as she was dying. Anslinger remained drug commissioner until his retirement at 70 and was given commendations. Jimmy regretted working for Anslinger until the day he died. In 1978, "Strange Fruit" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, where it was named Song of the Century. In February 2020, the Emmett Till Antilynching Act was considered by the Senate, and is yet to be passed.

Cast[]

Production[]

Development on a new Billie Holiday biopic was announced in September 2019, with Lee Daniels directing. Andra Day was set to play the titular role, with Trevante Rhodes, Garrett Hedlund and Natasha Lyonne also cast.^[1] Evan Ross, Dana Gourrier and Erik LaRay Harvey were also added later that month.^[2] Additional casting was announced in October.^[3] Daniels was hesitant to cast Day, owing to her limited acting experience, but became convinced following an iPhone clip of her sent to him by her acting coach.^[4]

Filming began on October 6, 2019, in Montreal.^[5]

The United States vs. Billie Holiday (Music from the Motion Picture)[]

Release[]

The film was released on February 26, 2021.^[6] In July 2020, Paramount Pictures acquired distribution rights to the film.^[7] It was originally scheduled to be released on February 12, 2021,^[8][9] but in November 2020, it was moved two weeks to February 26.^[10] In December 2020, Hulu acquired distribution rights to the film in the United States.^[11]

Reception[]

Audience viewership[]

Hulu reported the film was the most-watched title over its first three days of release, with Samba TV estimating that 287,000 U.S. households watched the film.^[12]

Critical response[]

Review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported that 55% of 167 critic reviews were positive, with an average rating of 5.4/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "Although The United States vs. Billie Holiday often falls shy of its subject's transcendence, Andra Day's performance offers brilliant compensation."^[13] On Metacritic the film has a weighted average score of 52 out of 100, based on 43 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews."^[14]

David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter wrote, "Day mesmerizes even when Lee Daniels' unwieldy bio-drama careens all over the map with stylistic inconsistency and narrative dysfunction, settling for episodic electricity in the absence of a robust connective thread. It's a mess, albeit an absorbing one, driven by a raw central performance of blistering indignation, both tough and vulnerable."^[15] Reviewing for Variety, Owen Gleiberman praised Day's performance and said, "In this sprawling, lacerating, but at times emotionally wayward biopic set during the last decade of Holiday's life, Day gives Billie a voice of pearly splendor that, over time, turns raspy and hard, and we see the same thing happening to Billie inside."^[16]

For Deadline Hollywood, Pete Hammond wrote, "You simply cannot say enough about what Day achieves in this role, particularly being a first-time actor. She gets beneath the skin of Holiday, giving a raw and honest portrait of an artist under duress but determined in her belief that she can use that art and talent to make the world a more just place."^[17] Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian gave the film 2 out of 5 stars, detailing, "Day's rendition is heartfelt. But the direction and storytelling are laborious, without the panache and incorrectness of earlier Daniels movies such as Precious (2009) and The Paperboy (2012). A cloud of solemnity and reverence hangs over it, briefly dispelled by the music itself."^[18] DiscussingFilm also praised Day in their 3/5 review, saying that her work is the only memorable aspect in an otherwise forgettable, muddled film.^[19]

Several jazz critics and musicians have had negative reactions to the film for its rewriting of history. Writing in JazzTimes, Historian and musician Lewis Porter critiqued the ahistorical premise of the film:

In Lee Daniels’ film The United States vs. Billie Holiday, the words “Earle Theater, Philadelphia, May 27, 1947” flash onscreen, and one sees a row of policemen, with Holiday’s manager Joe Glaser standing at the center of them. Billie comes onstage and sings the first words of “Strange Fruit,” solo. Immediately, Glaser orders the police, “Get her off that stage!” and they storm forward.

But wait! Holiday was not at the Earle Theater on that date. She never sang “Strange Fruit” as the first number in a set, and never sang that or anything else a cappella . . . Most significant, never in her entire career was Billie stopped while performing “Strange Fruit.” Yes, the Federal Bureau of Narcotics pursued Holiday for her drug use. But there was no federal objection to the song “Strange Fruit,” nor was there any campaign to suppress it.

If you believed this film—and so far as I can tell, almost everyone did, even the many critics who rightly panned it—you have been the victim of one of the worst instances of rewriting history in the annals of Hollywood. Even the usual spate of articles about “what’s true in this based-on-fact movie” missed the boat. The Los Angeles Times stated that “[a]lthough some details of the relationships have been fictionalized …, the … conspiracies are well documented.” Documented where exactly? In the movie, and nowhere else.^[20]

In their Jazz United podcast on WBGO, critic Nate Chinen and musician and radio host Greg Bryant also objected the film's false premises but also its let down to the jazz community for its inauthenticity and "exploitative nature," saying, for example "its the attempt to co-opt the name to sell films, what we have again what we have is the image of jazz, of Black American music, whichever you call it, being used to promoted certain stereotypes not only about the music, but the players, the people, who gave their lives to embody it."^[21]

Accolades[]

See also[]

• Lady Sings the Blues – A 1972 biopic of Billie Holiday, starring Diana Ross.
• Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill – A 1986 play and 2016 television movie, starring Audra McDonald.

References[]

External links[]

• The United States vs. Billie Holiday at IMDb
• The United States vs. Billie Holiday at AllMovie
• The United States vs. Billie Holiday at Rotten Tomatoes
• Official screenplay