The United States vs. Billie Holiday

 

I bailed on Lee Daniels' The United States vs. Billie Holiday five minutes in as I've developed so little tolerance for Daniels' peculiar cartoonish indulgences. Seeing Leslie Jordan, whom I ordinarily find delightful, in a fright wig as fictitious celebrity interviewer Reginald Lord Devine asking Billie Holiday "What is it like to be a colored woman?" was all I needed to know that Daniels would be aiming low -- again.

Andra Day, a wonderfully evocative singer; the film's human subject, legendary jazz vocalist Billie Holliday; and the song at the center of the trial, Strange Fruit, deserve so much better from a man who appears to marshal considerable clout and resources. Such a pity.