Bessie (2015)

The story of blues singer Bessie Smith (Queen Latifah) from being discovered and mentored by Ma Rainey (Mo'nique) through personal success and struggles. Directed by Dee Rees, this is a superior biopic. These rags to riches movie biographies are usually full of cliches interspersed with career highlights and lows. While BESSIE doesn't quite avoid the traps inherent in the genre, it attempts to give us a detailed account of the times and atmosphere of the black artist in the 1920s and 30s and it's eerie how some things never change: many producers weren't keen on Smith because she wasn't "light" enough. But like most of these filmed biographies much of the film rests on the performance of the actor playing the central role and here, BESSIE comes up a winner. Queen Latifah is just amazing! Rees and her co-screenwriters (Christopher Cleveland, Bettina Gilois) wisely don't try to cram an entire lifetime into under two hours yet it doesn't seem underdeveloped either. I was glad the film ended on a positive moment in Smith's life and didn't take us all the way to her tragic death (an auto accident). Excellent performances all around including Michael K. Williams, Mike Epps, Khandi Alexander and Oliver Platt

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