Janis: Little Girl Blue (2015)

Lack of good storyline.

n my opinion it was a great movie with some interesting elements, even though having some plot holes and the ending probably was just too messy and crammed together, but still fun to watch and not your casual movie that is similar to all other ones.

Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

Janis: Little Girl Blue (2015) *** 1/2 (out of 4)There have been several documentaries on Janis Joplin over the years but this one here is certainly among the very best for a number of reasons. For starters, the film does an extremely good job talking about not only her music career but also her personal life. Secondly, and most importantly, there are many people interviewed here that worked with her directly as well as family members and friends who knew her before she became a star and eventual legend.JANIS: LITTLE GIRL BLUE is certainly going to appeal to those fans of the legendary singer and if you don't know who she is then it's a great way to understand why so many people continue to love her decades after her death. The documentary does an extremely good job at talking about her pre-fame days including her depression with her looks as well as the drug addiction that started soon after she left home. The documentary is full of stories from friends as well as some great footage of concerts as well as band rehearsals.I honestly don't see how anyone could be disappointed in this film. Sure, it's great enough to where it could have gone on for more hours but realistically there's nothing wrong here. The amount of interviews from her original band members is priceless and especially since so many of these people are getting older and many are no longer with us. We get a terrific idea of what it was like for the singer back in the day and we get some letters she wrote read to us as well.Fans of the singer will certainly want to check this documentary out even if they feel they know everything about her.

I remember listening to Janis while she was alive, and I was not a fan during her life. Now that she has been gone for so many years, I still can't stand her. Nothing against her, I feel the same way about Morrison and the 'Doors.' Neither of these did anything for me and I certainly did not miss them. The movie/documentary is a bit pandering and over-the- top is OK...but not honest. One can not stop people on a path to self-distraction. I am so saddened and somewhat offended when troubled souls are elevated to some iconic status, marched through media tabloids as 'great' people. These folks are suffering and some had honesty might succeed in saving them. Nah...the documentary seems to miss the mark.

JANIS JOPLIN: LITTLE GIRL BLUE follows a familiar narrative (also employed in 2015's AMY) of the exceptionally talented female star catapulted into the limelight, who could not handle it, and eventually killed herself accidentally of a heroin overdose at the age of 28.All the familiar ingredients were there; the middle-class upbringing In Port Arthur, Texas, where Joplin became something of a rebel against her rather insular family, and expressed her rebellion by acting in increasingly mannish ways. Although she believed herself to be accepted into a largely male society, she found herself victim of a series of reversals, including being elected the "ugliest man" in a group of people in Austin, Texas.Eventually she decamped to San Francisco, where she joined a band (Big Brother) and eventually acquired the recognition she had craved ever since childhood. The narrative followed a predictable live: in the end she became too big for her band, branched out on her own, enjoyed some major successes both in the United States as well as abroad, founded a new band, consolidated her stardom and was just about to embark on exciting new possibilities when death eventually struck her.Accompanied by reminiscences from those closest to her, as well as members of her own family, JANIS JOPLIN: LITTLE GIRL BLUE told the story of a phenomenally talented person unable to reconcile personal with professional lives. She could not stand being alone when offstage; and tried to find solace in heroin. It seemed that for all their love of the singer (some of the interviewees started crying as they recalled the tragic sides of her life), no one actively lifted a finger to help her psychologically.Accompanied by extensive footage of her in performance, together with readings from her private letters, Amy J. Berg's documentary had a certain fascination for anyone interested in her music. But for the uninitiated viewer it seemed to be wearyingly predictable.

The recent documentary Amy, depicting singer Amy Winehouse's rise and fall at about the same age as Janis Joplin reminds me that all rockers are not the same, especially females. Janis: Little Girl Blue depicts Joplin as much more focused than Amy and much more in control of her own life. Except for in death, where both succumb to substance abuse, even the relatively more stable Amy.This Janis doc does an effective job showing the arc of her brief life, from a country girl in Texas to the rocker who led the way for women in the industry and eventually the world. Why the eventual failure given her great fame and fortune? It's simple, really: She wanted to be loved, and not always finding that devotion, she could turn to music and drugs for support and fulfillment.Along the way, the doc gives insight into what makes this blues mama run: In her own words she says ambition is the desire to be loved. She's not a "Cry Baby" about not getting the love she wanted from some of her friends and family; actually family members talk to us and appear to have supported her through it all.Her straight-laced parents couldn't be expected to wholly embrace the counter-culture queen, who began innocently singing folk tunes in her early teens and ended singing blues that reminded one critic of "desperate mating calls." Professionally she gets plenty of love from the likes of Khris Kristofferson, whose Me & Bobby Magee was her best-selling single ever and band mate David Goetz, who observed that she turned into a caricature of the blues mama that the media had helped to create. Dick Cavett interviews her with an unusual affection different from his usually detached persona. At one point he can't remember if they were intimate—a nice touch of amnesia that doesn't belie a bit his attachment to her.Janis: Little Girl Blue informs about Joplin's career from folk to hard blues, gives insight into the driving emotions of her ambition, and amply shows her singing talents that made her a child of Aretha Franklin and her own person.A greatly satisfying bio of a great singer.