John Ridley’s unauthorized biopic of Jimi Hendrix (André Benjamin, a.k.a. André 3000) plays like a hazy, half-remembered dream — perhaps faithful to the spirit of the man, but frustrating if you’re actually curious about the facts.
Set in the mid-’60s, before he got famous, the film begins as Linda Keith (Imogen Poots), Keith Richards’ girlfriend, discovers Hendrix playing in a backup band at New York’s Cheetah Club, and concludes as he heads from London to the Monterey Pop Festival in California.
Benjamin, of the band Outkast, does make a terrific Hendrix; he looks and sounds the part, and a couple of iconic early performances will have you sitting up in your seat. But too often we’re at the periphery of the music, amid his turbulent, abusive relationship with his British girlfriend (Hayley Atwell, ) or sitting through business discussions with his manager (Burn Gorman).
At least Ridley (screenwriter of “12 Years a Slave”) is trying something other than the ultra-straightforward biopic, which can be deadly dull. But if you’re looking to rock out to Hendrix-written tunes, you won’t find them here; his estate denied their use in the film.