Can we get Andra Day some solid, coherently structured material ASAP? Despite her Best Actress Oscar nomination for The United States vs. Billie Holiday—for her first starring role—that’s not what she has to work with in the movie. Day has a startling combination of confidence and corruptibility as the legendary jazz singer, but the film itself is a jumble of barely established characters, over-stylized techniques, and didactic dialogue. (“This jazz music is the devil’s work!” one FBI agent fumes.) The title references the government’s campaign to nail Holiday for drug use and prevent her from singing one of her staples, a poetically grisly anti-lynching song called “Strange Fruit,” but the film itself constantly yanks us in different directions. As long as the camera settles on Day, the movie soars, whether she’s fully feeling the music onstage or layering line readings with the dexterity of a seasoned pro. (“Be careful with this feeling,” she tells a confidante after he’s learned the depth of her personal sorrow, managing control and helplessness at the same time.) Unfortunately, director Lee Daniels can’t leave well enough alone. I understand the temptation to use some of the techniques he employs—Holiday’s (and Day’s) singing voice is the equivalent of a slow, druggy dissolve—but did he really have to pile on during a powerhouse performance of “Ain’t Nobody’s Business If I Do” with slow motion, intrusive insert shots, alternating film stock, and the bizarre choice to replace the music itself with a bit of the melodramatic score? The heavy directorial hand can be felt in the scenes of trauma too. I thought that Daniels’ Precious—which I haven’t had the strength to revisit—refrained from exploiting the troubles of its central character, an obese, illiterate 16-year-old girl from Harlem being sexually abused by her father. But others felt differently, and having watched The United States vs. Billie Holiday I wonder if they were right. At its worst, the movie seems to sensationalize Holiday’s struggles the same way various promoters and managers exploited her talent for their own purposes, at the expense of her humanity. At least Day is almost always on the screen to remind us of the latter.
