We know the basics of her story: girl finds the blues, joins the hippie scene, becomes a star, and, at the age of 27, dies alone in a hotel room. But Janis: Little Girl Blue tells a deeper story.
When a rock star bares their soul, searing the world with passion and pain, they are not to be forgotten. This was the life of Janis Joplin.
We have long known the surface of her story: girl finds the blues, joins the hippie scene, becomes a star, and, at the age of twenty-seven, dies alone in a hotel room. But Janis: Little Girl Blue tells a much deeper story.
Like many little girls, Janis dreamed of being beautiful and loved. This longing haunted her, and was perhaps the inspiration for the urgent blues that she brought into the world when she opened her mouth to sing. It was also the fuel that launched her out of Texas, when a fraternity voted her “Ugliest Man on Campus,” an insult emblazoned on the front page of her college newspaper.
After arriving in San Francisco for the Summer of Love, she broke through at the Monterey Pop Festival, where cameras captured Mama Cass Elliot marveling at the discovery of this supernatural talent.
But fame is not love. Sadly, Janis craved a soulmate, and romance did not find her. We watch interviews of the time and see sadness envelope her. We watch extraordinary performances and see that sadness soar into art, as it voraciously devours her soul.