Deborah Ross

A gripping portrait: Billie reviewed

Though it’s transfixing, this documentary is often a hard watch as well as a hard listen. This lady sang the blues for a reason

A gripping portrait: Billie Holiday and Mister. Credit: Gottlieb 
issue 14 November 2020

  • Billie

    15, Cardiff and Glasgow, on demand from barbican.org.uk and available on Amazon and iTunes from 16 November

This documentary about Billie Holiday is transfixing. Not just because it’s about Billie Holiday — I am not into jazz yet her version of ‘Strange Fruit’ is obviously incredible — but for the previously unheard audio tapes recorded by Linda Lipnack Kuehl in the 1970s with the people who knew her.

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