Regular readers know that I’m a documentary kind of guy, and so when I saw Little Girl Blue listed among the otherwise dubious movie choices* on the flight back from Amsterdam, it was an obvious pick.
As well as a very good one. At its most fundamental, Little Girl Blue examines the consequences, both positive and damaging, of society’s default instinct to suppress a non-conformist’s talents. Sadly, usually the bad outweighs the good.
Highly recommended.
Watch Janis Joplin: Little Girl Blue: The PBS American Masters Documentary That’s Streaming Free for a Limited Time (Open Culture)
A very quick heads up: Until the end of the month, you can stream free online Janis Joplin: Little Girl Blue, a new documentary from PBS’ American Masters series. Writes PBS:
The broadcast features Amy Berg’s never-before-seen extended film cut with additional archival performance footage and new interviews with Janice Joplin’s sister Laura Joplin and musicians influenced by Janis: Alecia Moore (a.k.a. Pink), Juliette Lewis, Melissa Etheridge and the film’s narrator, Chan Marshall, who is best known as indie rock star Cat Power.
The doc runs 102 minutes, and just started airing on television on PBS this week. Enjoy.
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* The exception being The Lives of Others, discussed here.