What Happened, Miss Simone?

"Clearly there is entertainment value in this documentary, but it’s very much of a “behind the music” calibre."

"An often electric, bracingly urgent documentary."

"What Happened, Miss Simone does its job well, proving especially treasurable for its wealth of rare archive film footage and audio material that captures Simone’s fierce talent, fiery temperament and fragile mental health"

"What Happened features some of the best concert footage and musical performances in recent music doc memory, even if it never quite answers the question in its title."

"Away from the confessions that induce shock and the divulgences that elicit sympathy, Garbus leaves ample space for lengthy sequences of Simone's performances."

"Garbus embraces Simone in all her multitudes and contradictions — or at least as many of them as can be comfortably squeezed into a 100-minute running time."

"An excellently clear-eyed primer on the woman whose talent carried her from an impoverished childhood in Tryon, N.C., to the world’s most rarefied stages—and whose political defiance nearly ended her career."