B.B. King - The Life of Riley

Born in 1925 in the state of Mississippi as Riley B. King, blues guitarist and singer B.B. King is a true legend in the music business. The King of Blues has sold over 40 million records worldwide and given more than 15,000 concerts during his career. Yet time and again, major obstacles have been placed in the musician's path. But against all odds, King has fought for his place in the music business and has maintained it for over sixty years. Reason enough for filmmaker Jon Brewer to set a cinematic monument to the legend.

For B.B. King - The Life of Riley, Brewer accompanied the musician for two years and collected over 250 hours of footage. Archival footage and interviews with other artists such as Bruce Willis, Bill Cosby, Eric Clapton and Bono of U2, as well as family members and companions, help the director present the musician's fans with the most dense and comprehensive biography possible. In detail, Brewer traces the life of B.B. King, from his childhood, which he spent primarily with his grandparents, to his first steps in the music business, his job at radio station WDIA, his first successes in 1951, racial hostility at his first live performances, to his big breakthrough and his strong influence on other black artists in America.

Even in the first half of the film, there are some moments that are covered in too much detail, resulting in some noticeable lengths. In addition, even viewers with a good command of English have to concentrate too much on the subtitles due to the strong dialects of some of the interviewees, making it difficult to really enjoy the film in a relaxed manner. Moreover, Brewer seems to keep trying not only to tell B.B. King's story, but also to use his example to trace the social and political conditions of the United States during that time period. This works very well in some moments, in other moments, however, this stylistic device seems more like unnecessary filler that could have been gladly exchanged for more live recordings and musical anecdotes.

Overall, however, B.B. King - The Life of Riley is a very comprehensive and for fans certainly highly interesting documentary about B.B. King and about blues music, which not least shows what influence King had on the entire music business and how down-to-earth and sympathetic the musician ultimately remained despite his success. Therefore applies to all B.B. King fans and lovers of music documentaries: with small deductions quite worth seeing!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp