Powerful

Good movie but grossly overrated

Good concept, poorly executed.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Zoe Saldana blacks up to play the difficult, volatile and fiery Nina Simone. Nina took no prisoners and there are people still alive who have the shrapnel wounds to prove it.This film never gets a handle on its subject, it really is all over the place. It sets up to its story from the point of view of Clifton Henderson (David Oyelowo) the psychiatric nurse who becomes her assistant and later her manager.Henderson has a difficult task caring for a diva with mental health issues, money problems, a bad reputation and a voice that is losing its edge. Promoters do not make money from her, clubs do not want to book her and audiences refuse to stay silent when she sings.Director Cynthia Mort had her work cut out to make Nina a sympathetic figure despite her support for the civil rights movement. Nina did not want sympathy when she was alive. Nina would sometimes go on stage and wind up the audience by not singing her greatest hits. Apparently Mort did not have the final cut to this film but what we have is a disappointing bio-pic.

After the big hoo-ha about how bad this film is, in particular because of Zoe Saldana's casting, I decided to give this movie a shot.I know virtually nothing about Nina Simone's life, but this film does not want to portray what her life was during her prime. Instead it relies on itty bitty pieces of dialogue during interviews and conversations with Nina's old friend Richard Pryor. It is set during the last decade of her life, when she is mentally ill, unstably alcoholic and very difficult to tolerate. Clifton (David Oyelowo), the nurse at the mental hospital where she is interred, takes her in, looks after her and eventually becomes her manager. The real problem with this movie is, glaringly, the time period of Nina's life. It's not a good one, and very little happens in the movie. We start her off as a little girl defying racial segregation so that her parents can sit in the front row. Nothing else is shown of her rise to fame and struggles, which makes the film feel very empty. One thing I really didn't like is the erasure of Clifton's homosexuality. Although he and Nina are not seen intimate with each other (at one point she calls him the F word when he refuses to have sex with her) there is a small implication. Why couldn't they show everyone he was gay?The last thing is of course Zoe Saldana as Nina. I personally feel the criticism (and it was extremely scornful) was very unfair. She did the best with what she was given, and she should be praised for it. The problem is not the color of her skin, its the age. She is supposed to be in her sixties, and yet Saldana is actually younger than David Oyelowo! They really couldn't find an older actress?At times the movie was painfully boring, badly paced and perhaps unintentionally funny. 5 out 10.

NinaYet another film of a famous person that in reality is just an excuse to show off mental illness. In this case the bipolar condition of Nina Simone. The film assumes that the viewer already is familiar with her life. I wasn't. I only knew her by having heard a couple of her songs. The start of the film rushes ahead through her life to the very end of her life. But it doesn't start at the end and show flash backs. Well... sort of. It was mostly just a confusing mess and I had no clue what her career was like up to the end (where the film begins). The first concert she does is in a small bar. So as a viewer I'm like, OK, so this is the kind of concerts she had. And then I'm told she is one of the most famous singers. OK, so why is she in a small bar performing if she is so famous? And then somebody says that she should be in a huge concert hall, and not in a small bar. And I'm like, yes, so why isn't she? Please tell me, the viewer. No information. The film revolves around her (non-romantic) relationship with her nurse/assistant/manager. This is uninteresting. It never goes anywhere and there's very little tension. I suspect it's just badly acted. David Oyelowo plays the assistant. I had never heard of him. So I looked him up. He has a long career of so-so stuff. So he doesn't seem particularly talented. He seems to be established as a middling talent. So it's an odd casting. It seems to me like he just didn't have what it took to make this role work. Zoe Saldana plays Nina Simone. This is also not particularly interesting. But I don't think it's the acting that's the problem this time. I suspect the problem here is the script. A string of scenes showing a crazy person doing crazy things is not interesting. This is not a comedy. The craziness has to be coupled with her being sensible sometimes. There has to be some sort of balance. Nina Simone in this film goes from being disturbingly weird to being bouncing-off-the-walls-in-a-padded-cell- crazy. She's impossible to like. But she's famous for being a musical genius. She created amazing music and trail-blazed against all odds and conquered the world. This is not shown in this film. Nina Simone in this film is just nuts with no redeeming qualities. It's the stuff that made her famous that I'm interested in. This film provides none of it. They use the "Angry Black Woman" trope to it's fullest extent. Sure, Nina Simone does have ample reason to be angry. But this character seems utterly consumed by it. It's like she has nothing else going for her in her life. It would be nice with a film about a historical black person that doesn't focus on how much a victim he or she is. I'm not saying that black people historically haven't suffered. What I'm saying is that, by looking at the movies produced focusing on black people, black history seems to be defined by being a victim and nothing else. I'm starting to find this tedious. And in this film it's especially obvious, since her talents are so down-played. It's all about Nina, the crazy victim. I learned almost nothing about Nina Simone's music career.

Zoe Saldana did an excellent job, she did capture Nina's essence. Perhaps the story is fictional, and the nurse bit is quite a liberty, however, Zoe helps to bring Nina to a new generation. Her makeup is appropriate, it is not offensive. She gives a nuanced and fine performance. Sometimes it is nice to see a softer more human side of someone known in many ways as a "Militant Icon." Great job Zoe. We get to see hints of Nina's weakness in her dealings at the hospital and the human effects of having to be a strong presence during her trials and tribulations. For those who call Zoe's makeup ugly what is ugly about it? I think some of the fictional liberties are fun, I like the romantic soap opera version of Nina, moments of the lighter spirit and times. Nina is beautiful as is Zoe.