Hi everyone!
Welcome back to Documentary Thursday! This week we’re going with a music documentary for one of my favorite artists, who has influenced so many amazing pop and electronic musicians. If you want a couple other music documentaries, check out “Stop Making Sense” (Episode #179) and “Quincy” (Episode #270). And if you have any suggestions, let me know at onemoviepunch.com.
And now...
Today’s movie is “Grace Jones: Bloodlight and Bami” (2018), the documentary directed by Sophie Fiennes. The documentary covers Jamaican-American artist Grace Jones, who has worked as a supermodel, singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. The documentary follows her the creation of her most recent studio album “Hurricane” (released in 2008), the tour afterwards, and a few stories from her youth.
Spoilers ahead.
I would argue more people know *of* Grace Jones than they know *about* Grace Jones, especially as her career and fanbase have changed over the years. Her influence is legendary, leaving a mark in every industry she entered, and commanding respect from the most influential producers. So, a documentary about an album twenty years in the making seems like a good chance to capture the process and aftermath, which took Sophie Fiennes about four years. However, after seeing this film, I don’t know if I would recommend it to anyone who doesn’t know about Grace Jones, or maybe suggest that folks read up a little bit before watching, because while this documentary is all Grace Jones, it’s not for people unfamiliar with her life and work.
I can imagine the production process for this film didn’t help. Sophie Fiennes had trouble finding funding for the documentary, working both with traditional and crowdfunding routes, during a time when the economy was beginning to plunge around 2008. She captured some of the more intimate scenes with whatever equipment was around or affordable, and used some other funding injections to capture some amazing stage work. But what most folks don’t realize is just how long it takes to cut together a documentary, especially one with so many capture sources and quality levels, which need to be cleaned and reviewed before even beginning with arrangements, and clearing all the various work with the owners. It takes money not just to capture, but to process, arrange, compose, score, test and distribute the film. It’s pretty ironic, actually, that an album twenty years in the making has a documentary that took ten years to make.
Sophie Fiennes really does a nice job bringing the content together, though, rotating between the making of each song on the album, how some of them played during the tour, and any stories about the song or the process developing it. It also puts Grace Jones center stage, and the documentarian knowingly in the room, which always makes me wonder how much of the capture was natural, how much was influenced by the camera, and how much was staged for the camera, precisely because Jones is so accustomed to that level of attention. One thing that cannot be denied, though, is how her style and personality come through, which is almost a nice companion to both “Quincy” (Episode #270) and “McQueen” (Episode #235) from earlier this year.
“Grace Jones: Bloodlight and Bami” (2018) is a stylish documentary about the making of her 2008 album, “Hurricane”, and a masters class in her life and career from Sophie Fiennes. Unfamiliar viewers may have trouble engaging on some levels with the film, but may also find their curiosity peaked enough to dig into the archives, and perhaps even be astonished by her credits. Fans of Grace Jones, or fans of any of the industries she has inhabited, will definitely appreciate this film, along with anyone else willing to do a little rookie research on the Internet.
Rotten Tomatoes: 87% (FRESH)
Metacritic: 75
One Movie Punch: 8.2/10
“Grace Jones: Bloodlight and Bami” (2018) is not rated and is currently streaming on Hulu.
