Betty Davis - They Say I'm Different (documentary)

I am a huge fan of Betty Davis' style of hard funk, and while I have only discovered her over the last few years, I have become pretty fascinated with her and her fantastic music. A lovely, sexy woman who began writing her own music at the age of 12 and had written hit songs for others while still a teen, she also was a model, was friends with Jimi Hendrix and married Miles Davis - and was a major muse for his more radical music, as well.

While I've learned some background on her from the great booklets included in her reissue CDs, I was hoping for more pertinent info in this doc. Unfortunately, while obviously done with the best intentions and with real love for Betty, there is not a whole lot of new discoveries here. The creators even found Betty - who kinda vanished after her musical career stalled after 3 albums - but she is obviously reluctant to espouse upon those times in great deal and will not really say why she disappeared.

But there are interviews with her core band members (not really any of the more famous people who appeared on her albums like Bootsy Collins or Patti LaBelle, unfortunately) and old friends, but even they can't really shed a lot of light. Also unfortunately, there is very, very limited live footage or her performances - in fact, there only seems to be a few seconds from one show that is shown over and over - I would love to see more.

Again, I believe that this was done with the best intentions, but there's just not much here. Disappointing, really....