Film

What Happened, Miss Simone?

Name: What Happened, Miss Simone?
Genre: Music, Documentary
Released: 2015
Cast: Nina Simone, Lisa Simone, Dick Gregory, Stanley Crouch, Elisabeth Henry-Macari

Musical

A portrait of Nina Simone that refuses to separate the artist from the activist, the virtuoso from the voice of rage. Director Liz Garbus lets Simone speak for herself—candid, furious, luminous—across six decades of music, struggle, and uncompromising conviction. Essential viewing for anyone who thinks a great voice is enough.

TMDb rating

3.7

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you want an artist's life told largely through her own recorded voice, with archival performances and interviews that let the music and the politics argue with each other.

Skip it if you mainly want full concert recordings, because the film keeps stopping to examine the politics and the family around the music.

What it asks of you: Runs about an hour and forty minutes at a patient pace, lingering on her own voice and reasons rather than hurrying toward the next image.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

I Am Not Your Negro2017

James Baldwin's words and archive footage build a devastating essay on race, representation, and American mythology. It has the same moral urgency and structural elegance that makes Miss Simone so powerful.

But Long stretches of talking-head analysis can feel academic. Some may find the pacing meditative rather than gripping.

Billie2020

A documentary portrait of Billie Holiday that prioritizes her own recordings and testimony over convenient narrative. Like Miss Simone, it insists we hear the artist's full complexity—pain, agency, and all.

But The subject matter is relentlessly dark. Holiday's life was marked by exploitation and addiction; this film doesn't look away from either.

The Apology2022

Garbus directing again, this time a wartime documentary about former comfort women seeking acknowledgment from Japan. Same unflinching approach to trauma, testimony, and the slow work of justice.

But Heavy political subject matter. The pacing is deliberately slow; it asks patience more than it demands emotion.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from What Happened, Miss Simone?

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Daughter of the Nile1987

Both are about women whose defiance is quiet, private, and radical—resistance that happens in small moments rather than grand gestures. Both trust the camera to find meaning in what's unsaid.

Hou Hsiao-hsien's film about a young woman in Taipei struggling against poverty and family obligation, scored with jazz and pop. It's intimate social documentary wrapped in poetry—how a life becomes art.

But The narrative is deliberately minimal. If you need plot momentum or explicit emotional beats, this will feel frustratingly spare.

Miles Ahead2016

Don Cheadle plays and directs Miles Davis in a film that captures the creative chaos and political rage simmering beneath the surface of genius. Explosive energy that matches Miss Simone's refusal to be tamed.

But The narrative is fragmented and sometimes confusing. Some fans of Davis's music found the dramatic liberties frustrating.

Amy2015

Asif Kapadia's documentary uses only archival footage and audio—no interviews, no narration. It's an intimate, devastating portrait of Amy Winehouse that trusts you to find meaning in what you see and hear.

But Watching someone's self-destruction in real time is painful. The ending is devastating, and there's no redemptive arc.

My Name Is Khan2010

Shah Rukh Khan in a role of unexpected depth: a man navigating identity, belonging, and prejudice in post-9/11 America. It has Miss Simone's interest in how personal and political collide.

But The emotional beats are sometimes telegraphed. For those unfamiliar with Bollywood, the tonal shifts between comedy and drama can feel jarring.

Searching for Sugar Man2012

A mystery documentary about a forgotten musician rediscovered by South African fans. It captures something essential about art's power to transcend and transform, even in silence.

But The premise might sound whimsical; the actual subject matter is quite sad. Some find the pacing slow for a detective story.

The Two Escobars2010

ESPN's 30 for 30 documentary that braids together a footballer and a drug lord named Escobar. Like Miss Simone, it refuses to let you compartmentalize—art and violence, grace and corruption coexist.

But Heavy violence and dark history. The narrative structure can feel unfocused if you're expecting a clear story.

Pumzi2009

A Kenyan science-fiction short about climate change, colonialism, and artistic resistance. Made by Wanuri Kahiu, it channels the same defiant spirit and urgent message about who gets to dream.

But Only 20 minutes long, so it's not a full evening. Experimental sci-fi isn't for everyone, and the tone is deliberately elliptical.

Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem2014

Both documents a woman's fight for autonomy within systems designed to deny it. Both are about the cost of resistance and the necessity of it anyway.

A woman fights for a divorce in Israeli religious court over six years. Filmed almost like a play, it's a portrait of institutional cruelty and one person's refusal to disappear. It has Miss Simone's steely intelligence and moral clarity.

But It's legal drama filmed in real time, mostly in a courtroom. The pacing is glacial; some find it boring rather than powerful.