Janis: Little Girl Blue 2015

Directed by Amy Berg

An admiring, perceptive, richly researched and performance-studded celebration of 60s icon and white soul singer supreme, Janis Joplin, beautifully crafted by Amy Berg (West of Memphis).

USA In English
106 minutes DCP
M
Drug references, Offensive language

Director

Producers

Alex Gibney
,
Amy Berg
,
Jeffery Jampol
,
Katherine LeBlond

Photography

Francesco Carrozzini

Editors

Billy McMillan
,
Garret Price
,
Joe Beshenkovsky

Music

Joel Shearer

Narrator

Chan Marshall

With

Peter Albin
,
Sam Andrew
,
Karleen Bennett
,
Dick Cavett
,
John Byrne Cooke
,
David Dalton
,
Cornelius “Snooky” Flowers
,
Country Joe McDonald
,
Clive Davis
,
Melissa Etheridge
,
David Getz
,
Laura Joplin
,
Michael Joplin
,
Julius Karpen
,
Kris Kristofferson
,
Juliette Lewis
,
Alecia Moore
,
J. Dave Moriarty
,
David Niehaus
,
D.A. Pennebaker
,
Travis Rivers
,
Powell St. John
,
Bob Weir
,
Jae Whitaker

Festivals

Venice
,
Toronto
,
London
,
Amsterdam Documentary 2015

Elsewhere

“For an intelligent portrait of Janis Joplin, head straight for Amy Berg’s superb new documentary, which incorporates revelatory interviews with family, friends, band members and associates (some long since dead), a good deal of stirring live and archive footage, and a lot of insight from people who knew her well.

It strikes a fine balance between the Janis we think we know – the strung-out psychedelic white-blues belter who roared out of Haight-Ashbury in 1967 and found instant stardom after slaying them at Monterey – and the other half of her. Namely the Texas teenager with the classic, boring, suburban 50s, Manson-girl childhood (smart, odd-duck kid, loving but distant parents) who – as she grew up – routinely found herself athwart her times, her place, her gender, her sexuality and all the conventional expectations of her, including the retrogressive race norms of her day…

Best of all is the chance to reacquaint oneself not only with the real Janis – so naturally charming and funny – and her gigantic voice, but also with Janis the unexpectedly magnificent fashion icon, decked out in boas, tons of rings, big pink sunglasses, gold dresses, striped bellbottoms, the works. Style-wise, she was her own masterpiece. To quote a Facebook meme I spotted recently: ‘In a world of Kardashians, be a Janis!’” — John Patterson, The Guardian