''Jimi: All Is by My Side'' is a 2013 internationally co-produced
biographical
A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just the basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or ...
drama film
In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...
about
Jimi Hendrix
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. Although his mainstream career spanned only four years, he is widely regarded as one of the most ...
, written and directed by
John Ridley
John Ridley IV (born 1965) is an American screenwriter, television director, novelist, and showrunner, known for '' 12 Years a Slave'', for which he won an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. He is also the creator and showrunner of the a ...
. The film tells the story of Hendrix's career beginnings, through his arrival in London, the creation of
The Jimi Hendrix Experience
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. Although his mainstream career spanned only four years, he is widely regarded as one of the most ...
and the beginning of his fame prior to his performance at the
Monterey Pop Festival
The Monterey International Pop Festival was a three-day music festival held June 16 to 18, 1967, at the Monterey County Fairgrounds in Monterey, California. The festival is remembered for the first major American appearances by the Jimi Hendrix ...
. It was screened in the Special Presentation section at the
2013 Toronto International Film Festival
The 38th annual Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) took place in Toronto, Ontario, Canada between September 5 and 15, 2013. '' The Fifth Estate'' was selected as the opening film and '' Life of Crime'' was the closing film. 75 films were ...
and at the
South by Southwest film festival
South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, T ...
and was released in the UK on 8 August 2014. The film screened at the
New Zealand International Film Festival
New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created.
New or NEW may refer to:
Music
* New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz
Albums and EPs
* ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013
* ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...
(NZIFF) on 26 July 2014.
Cast
Production
The film does not include any songs written by Hendrix, as the filmmakers' request to use them was denied by Experience Hendrix LLC (Hendrix's estate). Instead, the film set in London in 1966 and 1967 includes the songs that Hendrix performed during those years, shortly before the release of his debut album, ''
Are You Experienced
''Are You Experienced'' is the debut studio album by the Jimi Hendrix Experience. Released in 1967, the LP was an immediate critical and commercial success, and it is widely regarded as one of the greatest albums of all time. The album feature ...
''. All musical parts were played by
Waddy Wachtel
Robert "Waddy" Wachtel (born May 24, 1947) is an American musician, composer and record producer, most notable for his guitar work. Wachtel has worked as session musician for other artists such as Linda Ronstadt, Stevie Nicks, Kim Carnes, Randy ...
(guitar),
Leland Sklar
Leland Bruce Sklar (born May 28, 1947) is an American bassist and session musician. Sklar rose to prominence as a member of James Taylor's backing band, which coaleced into a group in its own right, The Section. This group of musicians so frequ ...
(bass),
Kenny Aronoff
Kenny Aronoff (born March 7, 1953) is an American session drummer.
Early life
Aronoff grew up in Stockbridge, Massachusetts He developed an interest in music at an early age and gravitated to the drums as "drumming was one hundred percent ene ...
(drums). Wachtel wrote short segments of music for the film that sound similar to the Experience's early songs.
Reception
Box office
''John Ridleys's All Is by My Side'' has grossed $340,911 in the United States and Canada and $586,163 in other territories for a worldwide total of $927,074, plus $67,173 with home video sales, against a production budget of $5 million.
Critical response
''Jimi: All Is by My Side'' received a rating of 67% on
review aggregator
A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, with an average rating of 6/10 based on 83 reviews. The site's consensus states: "It's uneven—and it lacks the primal power of its subject's classic recordings—but ''Jimi: All Is By My Side'' offers a well-acted alternative take on the Hendrix myth." On
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
, the film has a rating of 66 out of 100, based on 27 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
On its release,
Kathy Etchingham
Kathleen Mary Etchingham (born 18 June 1946) is an English writer known from the Swinging London music scene of the 1960s and her relationship with Jimi Hendrix.
Early life
Etchingham was born in Derby, the daughter of Charles Etchingham, an ...
, who was not consulted during production, strongly criticised the film's dramatization of her relationship with Hendrix, describing it as "absolute nonsense".
References
External links
*
* (rating 3.5/5)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jimi All Is By My Side
2013 films
2013 drama films
2013 biographical drama films
Irish biographical drama films
British biographical drama films
English-language Irish films
Biographical films about musicians
Films set in the 1960s
Films directed by John Ridley
Films with screenplays by John Ridley
Cultural depictions of Jimi Hendrix
Cultural depictions of the Rolling Stones
Cultural depictions of the Beatles
2010s English-language films
2010s British films