Jimi Hendrix has long been considered ahead of his time; what I never understood was apparently that meant he would have made a good contestant on “America’s Got Talent” or “The X Factor.”
I left Jimi: All Is By My Side wondering if writer/director John Ridley actually likes Jimi Hendrix. This is not a good question when reflecting on a biopic. Jimi Hendrix (André Benjamin) comes off as lethargic, reserved, selfish, and unfocused. Stardom seems accidental for Jimi in this film. That’s ok, the film never approaches it anyway thanks to a poorly considered timeline. On the rare occasions when the man shows a little spirit (which includes almost nothing on stage), it’s to beat the stuffing out of his woman, Kathy (Hayley Atwell). The story is Keith Richards’ girlfriend Linda (Imogen Poots) discovered Jimi in a Manhattan dive, collected him, fed him drugs and promoted him. Jimi watches most of this – he’s given credit for almost nothing here; Linda drags producer after producer to the dive and Jimi does next-to-nothing to draw attention until Linda flags down Animals’ guitarist Michael Jeffery (Burn Gorman), who is looking to manage instead of be managed.
Meanwhile, Jimi drinks, sleeps, and plays guitar a little. When dragged abroad, he has to be heavily coerced to get his career going. And you get the feeling that the only reason he isn’t shagging every English bird in sight is lack of availability. He doesn’t speak much, which is good, because the film sound quality fades in and out (a great sign in the biopic of a musician). It’s not like he has much to say anyway; any wisdom comes off as an aberration.
I’m going to give André Benjamin a pass on the musical skills displayed. It’s tough being Jimi, long considered one of the greatest guitarists ever to live, but André’s voice is awful, so it’s a mixed bag. Despite a lengthy runtime, the movie ended before Monterey, so we never get to see Jimi play anything but covers. I’m sorry, how was he invited to Monterey again?
I guess I love the idea of Jimi as musical genius. It’s displayed here, reluctantly, in tiny amounts, but it is displayed. It’s not every human who can listen to Sergeant Pepper’s just once and decide to cover it to open a concert two hours later. There’s no question this film 
needed more of that.
What’s more telling is what this biopic didn’t say – Linda Keith and Jimi Hendrix didn’t have a sexual relationship … really? She handpicks him in a nightclub; she takes drugs with him; she takes a personal interest in his career to the extent that she’s pulling every exec she knows to see him. C’mon? And then where are the hits, man? When does Jimi question Joe about the gun in his hand? When did his Haze turn Purple? When does Jimi excuse people so he can kiss this guy?
Check this out – the soundtrack for this movie doesn’t exist. This is a biopic about a famous musician and nobody produced a soundtrack. I’m not sure I can find words to destroy this movie any better than that lonely fact.
♪Linda Keith up in my head
Showing me a life of bread
Got some drugs, pussy and hooch
‘Scuse me, while screw this pooch♫
Rated R, 118 Minutes
D: John Ridley
W: John Ridley
Genre: Failed homage
Type of person most likely to enjoy this film: Keith Richards, turns out Linda was faithful :eyeroll:
Type of person least likely to enjoy this film: Woodstock survivors
♪ Parody inspired by “Purple Haze”
