Jimi: All Is By My Side
a film by John Ridley
Darko Entertainment

www.darko.com/film_allisbymyside.html
 

Written and directed by John Ridley (fresh from winning an Oscar for penning 12 Years A Slave), Jimi: All is by My Side focuses on the pivotal year (1966-1967) in the meteoric rise of James Marshall “Jimi” Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix), portrayed by Andre Benjamin (Andrew 3000), one-half of groundbreaking southern hip-hop duo, Outkast. Tracing the groundbreaking guitarist as he goes from being the little-known leader of a Greenwich Village-based RnB group (Jimmy James and the Blue Flames) to the threshold of international fame, the film documents a still-riveting moment of cultural importance. Upon first viewing, there is much to like about Ridley’s film. Although, at thirty-eight, he is fourteen years older than Hendrix was at the time, Benjamin does a convincing job as the left-handed guitarist, helping to demythologize the myths and present a complicated individual. Hendrix’s musical growth in the United Kingdom is evident in the recruiting of bassist Noel Redding (Oliver Bennett) and drummer Mitch Mitchell (Tom Dunlea) for his band, The Experience, and a scene set at the London Polytechnic Students’ Union. A longtime fan of Eric Clapton (Danny McColgan) and Cream, Hendrix gets Chandler to ask the trio if he could join them onstage. Once he plugs into his amplifier, however, he unleashes such an unprecedented flurry of notes that Clapton puts down his guitar and retreats to the dressing room.

Hendrix’s fascination with UFOS and aliens is touched upon, as are his political views. During one scene, he visits Trinidad and Tobago-born Michael X (born Michael de Freitas) in his London apartment. As he speaks with the Black Power activist, who had founded the Racial Adjustment Action Society (RAAS), as Abdul Malik, a year before, he shuns X’s urging for him to become a spokesperson for his “people,” calmly explaining that he aims instead for when “the power of love is greater than the love of power.”

The role of women in Hendrix’s rise provides an ongoing theme. Then-twenty-year-old, London-raised, Vogue model, and Keith Richard’s girlfriend for the past three years, Linda Keith (Imogen Poots) “discovers” the guitarist in a Village club, The Cheetah, gifts him with one of Richard’s guitars, turns him onto LSD, encourages him to use his real name, and begins touting his skills to everyone within earshot. Eventually, she sparks the interest of Chas Chandler, bassist for The Animals, who becomes Hendrix’s first manager. The rest of the film shifts to England. On his first night in London (September 24, 1966), British/Irish DJ and hairdresser, Kathy Etchingham (Hayley Atwell) comes into Hendrix’s life. After a severe bout with a “jealous” Keith, they head for the guitarist’s hotel (they would remain together for the next three years). Ridley presents their romance as very much up-and-down, culminating in a pair of extremely violent scenes. Hendrix brutally attacks Etchingham after she walks into a studio and disrupts a recording. In another scene, he inexplicably grabs a telephone from her hand and beats her savagely. Ridley’s recounting of her involvement with Hendrix, according to Etchingham (who now lives in New Orleans), is the film’s failure. Since its release, she has issued many rebuttals, claiming that Hendrix had never touched her. Ridley apparently had based his account on a 1974 biography, by early Hendrix employer/band leader Curtis Knight, already discredited in court.

Another problem with Jimi: All is by My Side stems from the Hendrix Estate’s refusal to grant permission for the use of the guitarist’s music. Though longtime James Taylor/Carole King sidemen, Waddy Wachtel (guitar), Leland Sklar (bass), and Kenny Aranoff (drums), provide a soundtrack that pays homage to his unique sound, no one could reproduce the intensity of Hendrix’s playing.

Although Jimi: All is by My Side comes close to revealing Hendrix at his most personal, a little more work would have allowed it to hit its mark.

—Craig Harris