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IMDbPro

What Happened, Miss Simone?

  • 20152015
  • Not RatedNot Rated
  • 1h 41m
IMDb RATING
7.6/10
14K
YOUR RATING
What Happened, Miss Simone? (2015)
A documentary about the life and legend Nina Simone, an American singer, pianist, and civil rights activist labeled the "High Priestess of Soul."
Play trailer2:19
2 Videos
11 Photos
DocumentaryBiographyMusic
A documentary about the life and legend Nina Simone, an American singer, pianist, and civil rights activist labeled the "High Priestess of Soul."A documentary about the life and legend Nina Simone, an American singer, pianist, and civil rights activist labeled the "High Priestess of Soul."A documentary about the life and legend Nina Simone, an American singer, pianist, and civil rights activist labeled the "High Priestess of Soul."
IMDb RATING
7.6/10
14K
YOUR RATING
    • Liz Garbus
  • Stars
    • Nina Simone(archive footage)
    • Lisa Simone Kelly
    • Roger Nupie
    • Liz Garbus
  • Stars
    • Nina Simone(archive footage)
    • Lisa Simone Kelly
    • Roger Nupie
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 26User reviews
    • 67Critic reviews
    • 75Metascore
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Nominated for 1 Oscar

    Videos2

    Official Trailer
    Trailer 2:19
    Watch Official Trailer
    What to Stream for Black History Month
    Full Episode 3:47
    Watch What to Stream for Black History Month

    Photos11

    Nina Simone in What Happened, Miss Simone? (2015)
    Nina Simone in What Happened, Miss Simone? (2015)
    Nina Simone in What Happened, Miss Simone? (2015)
    Nina Simone in What Happened, Miss Simone? (2015)
    Nina Simone in What Happened, Miss Simone? (2015)
    Liz Garbus in What Happened, Miss Simone? (2015)
    What Happened, Miss Simone? (2015)
    What Happened, Miss Simone? (2015)
    What Happened, Miss Simone? (2015)
    What Happened, Miss Simone? (2015)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Nina Simone
    Nina Simone
    • Self
    • (archive footage)
    Lisa Simone Kelly
    • Self
    Roger Nupie
    • Self
    Al Schackman
    • Self
    George Wein
    • Self
    Stanley Crouch
    Stanley Crouch
    • Self
    Andrew Stroud
    • Self
    • (archive footage)
    Dick Gregory
    Dick Gregory
    • Self
    Ilyasah Shabazz
    Ilyasah Shabazz
    • Self
    Attallah Shabazz
    • Self
    • (as Ambassador Shabazz)
    Gerrit De Bruin
    • Self
    Eleanor Belinfanti
    • Cast
    Gregory Marlow
    • Cast
    Elisabeth Henry
    Elisabeth Henry
    • Cast: Mrs Mazzanovich
    • (as Elizabeth Henry)
    James Baldwin
    James Baldwin
    • Self
    • (archive footage)
    • (uncredited)
    Harry Belafonte
    Harry Belafonte
    • Self
    • (archive footage)
    • (uncredited)
    Stokely Carmichael
    Stokely Carmichael
    • Self
    • (archive footage)
    • (uncredited)
    Walter Cronkite
    Walter Cronkite
    • Self
    • (archive footage)
    • (uncredited)
      • Liz Garbus
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Lisa Simone Kelly who is Nina Simone's daughter, joined the project as a producer in reaction to her distaste for the biopic Nina (2016)which she believed inaccurately portrayed her mother.
    • Quotes

      Nina Simone: We will shape and mold this country or it will not be molded and shaped at all anymore. So I think we don't have a choice. How can you be an artist and not reflect the times?

    • Connections
      Featured in Close Up with the Hollywood Reporter: Documentary (2016)
    • Soundtracks
      Good King Wenceslas
      Traditional tune, Lyrics by John M. Neale (as John Mason Neale), Thomas Helmore

    User reviews26

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    9/10
    Whether or not you've heard of Miss Simone, you really should give this film a try.
    I've got to be up front about this...I don't remember hearing anything about Nina Simone before I watched this film. While she was a very famous jazz performer, her meteoric career all but fizzled by the time I was a very young child. I also am not a particular fan of modern jazz, either. So in some ways, I am not the ideal audience for this wonderful new documentary from Liz Garbus. However, because of my work in the mental health field, the film really resonated with me and I think you should give it a look as well. Apparently, Netflix ALSO thinks you should be watching it, as they send out a mass emailing to many people recommending you see this new film--which you now can thanks to their streaming service.

    Nina was a child prodigy at the piano. However this was back in the 1930s...and she was a tiny black girl growing up in the South. Yet despite the racially charged climate, she had a spark of genius-- such that despite the times, she was helped by people to help realize her dream of being a musician. However, instead of the concert classical pianist she was trained to be, she sort of accidentally fell into the jazz industry and was soon known at least as much as her singing as her genius at the piano. This led to a lot of financial success in the 1950s and into the 60s and life was looking grand for this lady.

    So how, then, at the height of her fame did Simone's career start to slip? And why did she walk away from this life? This confusing journey about mental illness, to me, is the most interesting part of this documentary. While it's not perfect (a lot of her more bizarre behaviors later in life are omitted from the story as well as her second marriage), the film is extremely rare in quality and is extremely well made. Considering that Simone died from cancer over a decade ago, this should have been a very tough film to make. Yet, fortunately, they had recordings and diaries of Simone speaking her mind and explaining her strange journey through life. Garbus also was fortunate to have Simone's daughter's cooperation as well as her first husband and friends--giving you amazing access into Simone's world as well as into her mental illness that impacted but never destroyed her career. This sort of access alone is more than enough reason to see this film.

    By the way, if you like this film, also trying watching another great Garbus documentary, Bobby Fischer Against the World. The character in this film is, in many ways, much like Simone--with lots of brilliance as well as lots of personal demons.
    helpful•24
    4
    • planktonrules
    • Jun 26, 2015

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • June 24, 2015 (United States)
      • United States
      • English
      • French
    • Also known as
    • Production companies
      • Moxie Firecracker Films
      • Netflix
      • RadicalMedia
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Technical specs

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    • 1 hour 41 minutes
      • Color
      • Black and White

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