Jimi: All Is By My Side-2014

Director John Ridley

Starring André 3000

Scott’s Review #487

Reviewed September 30, 2016

Grade: A-

Jimi: All Is By My Side (2014) wasn’t quite the film I expected. It was better!

I wasn’t expecting poor work, since the film received a Best Male Lead Independent Spirit Award nomination for André 3000 (rapper) in the title role.

I expected an overview of the rise and fall of famed rocker Jimi Hendrix. Instead, I got a more introspective piece than I expected.

The film is a British production.

Interestingly, the film avoided any Jimi Hendrix songs familiar to audiences, using only songs written in 1966 and 1967.

This surprisingly turns out to be positive for the film.

The film’s awesome achievement is its non-conformity and independence; it undoubtedly had a lot of freedom.

This is a good thing.

If this film had been targeted for a showing at local theaters, it might have been a run-of-the-mill affair, focusing on the star and the star only.

It is also shot in a less-than-glossy way, giving it an almost grainy, gritty look that I found added something.

Impressively, the supporting characters, specifically three females with whom Hendrix has relationships throughout his initial rise to fame, are prominently featured, and the story shifts at times to their perspectives and feelings, not just Hendrix’s.

The film does not focus on Hendrix’s untimely death.

We meet Hendrix (compellingly played by André 3000) performing guitar in a sparsely attended bar in New York City.

Linda, the girlfriend of Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards, discovers him, becomes smitten, and recognizes his immense talent.

Slowly, he is discovered (mainly in London) and rises to fame.

However, the film is not only focused on his success but also on his personal life.

Besides Linda, Hendrix becomes involved with a volatile groupie and fixture in the 1960s London music scene, Kathy, and cultured American Ida.

Instead of the female characters being written as one-dimensional and dizzy, all three are quite intelligent and layered.

While each has feelings for the star, they are forced to be reckoned with in their own right, and we grow to care about their characters as individuals.

A scene involving Jimi violently beating girlfriend Kathy with a telephone during an argument has been refuted by friends as being fictitious- Hendrix was known as a gentle, peaceful man.

A controversy has emerged about the film’s overall accuracy, but I found it introspective and fascinating.

Independent Spirit Award Nominations: Best Male Lead-André 3000