Fiennes avoids the typical biographical approach, omitting the backstory about Jones’ rise to fame as a supermodel, singer, and film star in her 1970s and 80s heyday. Instead, we watch scenes of Jones lounging in hotel rooms, performing on stage, visiting her family in Jamaica, and recording tracks for the 2008 album Hurricane. As revealing as much of the material is, I yearned for more history. We do learn how her grandmother’s second husband, the stern and abusive Mas P, traumatized Jones and her siblings, which unconsciously influenced her famously severe onstage persona. I also appreciated seeing her handle the challenges of being a self-financed artist in the studio and on the road.
Fiennes’ stylistic approach really shines in the concert footage and transitions. Following a reference to Timothy Leary, she cuts to a psychedelic light show in a dance club accompanied not by music but by a roar. The sound devolves into the rhythmic pattern of a shaker. Eventually, she pairs the sound with the musician playing the pattern in the studio. At another point, Fiennes jumps from a spinning jack to Jones onstage with a green laser light spinning off her mirrored bowler hat. In general, Fiennes weaves music and sound masterfully throughout the film.
Grace Jones on and offstage
Still, the film would benefit from further editing. Repetitious scenes out the windshield of a car driving on sinuous Jamaican roads, and an extended scene of Jones interacting with her sleeping baby granddaughter, add little. It thrilled me to watch Jones perform popular numbers such as “Slave to the Rhythm” and “Pull Up to the Bumper.” But those of us hoping for more insight into the background of this musical icon will be a bit disappointed. The closest the film gets to addressing Jones’ heyday is a backstage conversation about an infamous 1981 incident in which Jones attacked BBC talk show host Russell Harty live on air. “A clip of the original TV show would have been a logical inclusion here,” observes The Hollywood Reporter, “especially as Bloodlight and Bami is partly funded with BBC money.” If you know this going into the film, you will likely enjoy it much more, as it is definitely a movie worth seeing.