First of all, I don't go to see movies for the makeup. I don't care about that controversy. The accent was a bit of a problem; sometimes I wasn't sure whether I was supposed to be hearing Nina Simone or Eartha Kitt. The singing, I'd say, was handled well, given the choice not to use Nina Simone's voice (and that choice can be argued with). The first song dispelled any expectation that we were going to get a Nina Simone imitation, and so when later songs recalled her more strongly, what caught our attention was the positive side of the salute rather than the mismatch.The big problem was the story. Nina in the movie has two problems. She's suffering as a black woman, and she isn't mentally stable. We get a hint at the very beginning that maybe discrimination is what undermined her sanity (although in reality the Curtis Institute still denies it rejected her on racial grounds, and the fact is the Institute was not closed to black women). But despite reminders of the political situation, she seems to embrace her neuroses rather than struggle against them, so an opportunity for drama is lost. She's a law unto herself, either she takes her medication or she doesn't, and there isn't a lot of cause-and-effect for the audience to cling to.We do see a bit of cause-and-effect when Dr. King is assassinated and she appears to respond by writing "Why? (The King of Love Is Dead." Unfortunately, Nina Simone in reality didn't write that song.At what sounds like a crucial moment, her career has bottomed out and someone says "She has to deliver truth again. If she does, she can do whatever she wants." But the remark raises your eyebrows because we hadn't seen a stage at which she delivers something other than truth. And when she agrees to start living clean, on her way to a comeback, it seems like a whim triggered by nothing in particular.If I could go back in time with the scriptwriter, I'd tell her to rebuild the story around that "She has to deliver truth again" crisis and to give it a clearer before-and-after with more sense of a changed attitude. But maybe that would be an even less accurate movie.

Contrary to the last review, this movie was terrific! It showed Miss Simone's difficulties in life without excusing them, moving back and forth to explain why she was behaving a certain way. It showed the history of how she got to those feelings and actions. And then it showed her glory, which was her music. Miss Saldana was incredibly brave to take on the music of an icon. And, she did quite well. Her emotions while singing and the way she used her voice were wonderful. Anyone knowing this music would understand why she performed this way. Taking on the life of a legend is very difficult, but this crew did a great job. Kudos to all!

Probably only 25 minutes that I'm watching this biopic about one of my idols:Nina Simone -> "What a bad television film"."A disaster" ... Zoe Saldana, clearly not up to the character! The allusions to Nina; a revolutionary musician are too few"... I don't care about Mrs Simone torments at the end of her life ! Mostly her relationship with her domestic/manager. (If at least it was "done properly). Plus, all the reproductions of her interviews and concerts : "We do not talk about it "... The film budget is what? $ 200 or something ... Roughly speaking, this full-length feature is a flop ... Let's watch a good documentary :)

I came in with expectations about this film. They weren't particularly high but what I did expect was to a lesser degree the music and vocal styling. Zoe Saldana as Nina Simone missed that mark completely. Unlike Jamie Fox in Ray where he magnificently captured Ray Charles's vocal patterns and musical style, you get none of this with Saldana's Nina. In fact, it doesn't transport you away at all. It's an unpleasant look into Nina's last years of her life, one that you do not wish to fully examine. And then there is the makeup that was applied to Zoe Saldana. It was not a visual look that was welcomed. I don't know if they were trying to capture Nina's appearance but this too was flawed and I go back to Jamie Fox role as Ray. Maybe Zoe Saldana was the wrong choice although I do see her being credited as one of the producers along with David Oyelowo who also has a role in this so maybe this was more of a vanity thing because they did it and figured it was easier for her to play the role. the other thing that bothered me was that they kept jumping from one era to another without any consistency. It was a visual headache to the story that just didn't fit. This was tough to watch.