Jimi: All is by My Side

John Ridley's, Jimi: All is by My Side is an ambitious effort that depicts the life of famed musician Jimi Hendrix. The leading role is played rather masterly by André Benjamin, of the hip-hop musical duo Outkast. Imogen Poots & Hayley Atwell act out the roles of Linda Keith and Kathy Etchingham, respectively. Both turn in fantastic performances revealing the multi-layered, nuanced nature of the two women who played pivotal roles in the life of Hendrix.

The setting for Ridley's film begins in Manhattan, in 1966. Benjamin's character has a chance encounter with Poots' character, who introduces Jimi to a few people, connecting with some influential and wise music industry folk, and before not too long he is convinced to go to London, where he's told that he will set the world over there ablaze. Poots' character is highly adept at acting with solely her eyes, letting them linger in scenes and communicating so much more than could be with only words. It's no wonder that Jimi follows her advice on testing the London music scene.

But, insert Atlwell's character, who comes into the film with the attitude and the familiar wear of that of a rock n roll groupie. An emotionally, likely alcohol/drug fueled spat leads to some major emotional and career decisions and Poots' character leaves Jimi to return to the States. Atwell very capably plays a role that is underminded by the premise that the nature of a groupie entails, one of sort of sucking the life from those who have truer intentions and more wholesome habits, but the role of Kathy Etchingham is no simple one to play, and certainly not one that had little importance in Jimi Hendrix's musical influences.

Biopics can be extremely difficult to produce, even when they are about high profile people like Jimi Hendrix. Major studios will typically scoff at the idea because of a lack of commercial appeal (Steve Jobs can be an exception to this). But, this indie picture which was reportedly produced on a budget of $5 million, and received generally positive reviews, did so because it didn't attempt to "do too much". It covered only a year of Jimi's career, albeit it was a short one, but it was able to capture some of the intricacies that made Jimi the man that he was.