Janis Joplin: Little Girl Blue -- Film Review

Janis Joplin: Little Girl Blue

Directed by Amy Berg

Janis Joplin is at the top of my list of female singers.  She sings with the most moving, powerful passion, energy, delicacy, and exquisite sensitivity of any female singer I have ever heard.  This film is an excellent portrayal of her character, music, background and career.  Janis Joplin's heart and voice is full of pain and passion.  Beginning with the rejection she felt in her family and community in Port Arthur, Texas, she took on the pain and rejection felt by others and gave powerful voice to it on stage.  There is a clip of her doing Ball and Chain at the Monterey Pop Festival that left the audience agog.  She seems to just tower over other singers by virtue of her total lack of buffers and inhibitions on her raw feelings that literally explode from her.  There are many interviews with family members, friends, band mates, and acquaintances that offer a rich array of perspectives on every aspect of her life, including the heroin use that eventually did her in.  It was a touching, full bodied, presentation of her life and career.  I strongly recommend it to everyone.  Seen on PBS, May 3, 2016.