Wednesday, November 02, 2016

Amy J. Berg's 'Janis: Little Girl Blue' (2015)

Amy J. Berg's Janis: Little Girl Blue (2015), a state of the art documentary biography of Janis Joplin (1943-1970), presents her life in a most compelling, sensitive and soulful manner. My first serious foray into this field was Howard Alk's Janis (1974), which I saw at the Melkweg in Amsterdam when I was twenty-two -- and I loved it, not to mention the audience's raucous response. Now I'd consider Alk's documentary as a complement or supplement to Berg's. There have been other films, and there have been excellent books on Janis, too. As anyone who knows her music can testify, Janis Joplin was intense. Amy J. Berg has done her justice here. 

Today's Rune: Signals. 

2 comments:

the walking man said...

One could say that because of Janis the 1960's actually was a standout area in music. There were others to be sure but how many Billy Holiday's can humans really bring forth?

Charles Gramlich said...

A few years back I read "Going down with Janis." It was pretty sensationalized but was interesting.