Bessie

2015 "Survival began with a song"
6.7| 1h47m| NA| en| More Info
Released: 16 May 2015 Released
Producted By: The Zanuck Company
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website: https://www.hbo.com/movies/bessie
Info

The story of legendary blues performer, Bessie Smith, who rose to fame during the 1920s and '30s.

Genre

Drama, Music, TV Movie

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Bessie (2015) is now streaming with subscription on Max

Director

Dee Rees

Production Companies

The Zanuck Company

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Bessie Audience Reviews

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Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.
FirstWitch A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.
Bea Swanson This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.
Logan By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.
Aanna Wilton K Very traumatic. But it is a typical life of a rich star. Hard childhood, rich life, ends up with nothing. Only emotions and a lot of experience. Nothing new. I still loved it because of the acting. Latifah is my long time loved actress and it was new to see her like this. Seeing my favorite actress forming a char like this tells me she thought it is worth to make it. We can learn from it. I prefer films with a lot emotions or actions. It has both. There was only one scene where I wanted to speed up things but it was worth to watch it. And the music and singing is a great collection they really make the the movie feels like back in time. The only thing I miss: I could not get to know the other characters. They could have made the movie a bit longer with more scenes with other people's life. But my final words: loved it! It is a real romantic movie. And I do not mean because of the relationships but because of the events too.
Prismark10 I knew little about Bessie Smith before this film and really none the wiser after it. Her life story differed little from other Queen of Blues from that era.Queen Latifah stars in this HBO film as Bessie Smith who was one of the most popular female blues singers in the 1920s and 30s.The film takes an episodic look at her life as well as flashbacks to traumatic parts of her childhood. We see Bessie being transformed to a struggling act with her brother to have the stage presence to sing the blues. We see her dalliance with both men and women, her volatile temper and her dealings with crooked businessmen and the casual racism of the time.The film like a lot of biopics these days has almost a cookie cutter approach totally lacking in originality. Just by the synopsis of the film I had a good idea what the story was going to be about. It had no surprises apart from seeing Queen Latifah in the nude.The writing seems poor at times. Bessie suddenly adopts a boy and its implied her man (Jack Gee) is the father of this child. She becomes wealthy and suddenly we have the great depression and Bessie has downsized. The plot did not always flow too well and given Bessie died at a relatively young age in an automobile accident this was not covered in the film.However the there is some good production values, set design and cinematography. The cast do their best despite the script.
zif ofoz 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.
edwagreen Queen Latifah totally captured the soul of blues singer Bessie Smith, in this film biography of the legendary singer.The problem with the picture is the disconnection we see throughout. It is not clear regarding the circumstances of the death of Smith's mother, which she is blamed for. Even when Smith visits the cemetery years later, we don't see the monument of the mother.Latifah is excellent in the role. Her singing is tremendous and she comes across as a tough, vulgar, often drunk young woman who knew from an early age what she wanted out of life.Smith was brash, totally outspoken and not afraid of anything or anyone. We see this when she chased Klan members away while performing in North Carolina.She receives fine support from Monique as Ma Rainey. We see the latter give Smith pointers, only for the two to split when Smith wants more recognition. Years later, when the depression hits, they're suddenly reunited and this apparently opened doors for Bessie.