Jimi – All Is By My Side: Blu-ray Review
The Movie:
Covering a transformative year in Jimi Hendrix’s (André Benjamin) life from 1966-67, in which he went from a New York City backing musician to making his mark in London’s music scene up until his Monterey Pop triumph, the film presents an intimate portrait of the sensitive young musician on the verge of becoming a rock legend
As I’m sure as I’ve stated before, biographical movies are always kind of tricky and then with the subject being a musician it can be a real tough sell. I haven’t seen too many of Benjamin’s performances and never would I have even thought of him playing Hendrix but he surprisingly had the ability to inhabit the role completely which I do applaud him on. He sounded like Hendrix so much and had his mannerisms down to the point that after about a quarter of a way into the film I completely forgot that it wasn’t actually him. I thought the film did a great job at chronicling the start of his career and even showed the start of some of his darker moments which some of these types of films tend to mask a bit. The only thing that I hoped they would’ve shown was a bit more of his career though. They pretty much stopped right before his Monterey Pop Festival and neglected to show anything else. I know the film had that in mind but because of that it felt like a unfinished film. The other great performance came from Hayley Atwell. She was so intense in her performance during the darker moments and such a sweetheart the rest of the time. She’s such a phenomenal actress and I have been a fan of everything she’s been in so far. This was a great look at the early on career of Hendrix and if you’re a fan of the musician I think you’ll like Benjamin’s portrayal but if you’re anything like me then you’ll still want more. Either way this is worth checking out!
Special Features:
Music by Waddy, Lyrics by Danny – This short feature focuses on Waddy Wachtel and co-wrote the score and also did the guitar solos in the movie.
