From Billie Eilish to Billie Holiday
Two offerings put the emphasis on how social media makes stars of those not yet out of their teens, or even high school.
Streaming on Apple TV+, “Billie Eilish: The World’s a Little Blurry” follows the singer, just 17, as she writes and records new songs, discusses the influence of her family on her work and her talent, and her relationship with throngs that she refuses to call “fans.” She sees them as other people going through emotional turmoil that she is lucky enough to put into words and music.
A film by R.J. Cutler (“The War Room,” “Nashville”), “Blurry” offers viewers a meditative immersion in Eilish’s world. It’s close to 2 1/2 hours long and comes on the heels of “Framing Britney Spears,” a much-talked-about documentary (streaming on Hulu) about the media’s relentless efforts to demonize young female talents.
› The six-episode docuseries “Top Class: The Life and Times of the Sierra Canyon Trailblazers” debuts on Amazon Prime. It follows the players on one of the nation’s most elite high school basketball teams. Not only have they won back-to-back state championships, they have earned the attention of sports media and celebrity fans in a media capital. Part of the draw to this college prep school is the fact that many players are the sons of NBA players.
So don’t go looking for some Capraesque celebration of mere high school students rising to the top through grit, determination and great coaching. Many of these players were born basketball royalty. Of sorts.
Far from the rough democracy of basketball films like “Hoosiers” or “Hoop Dreams,” this reflects a different kind of elitism, amplified by a social media already drawn to familiar names and celebrity culture. In another entertainment era, this would be the team you’d be rooting for the underdogs to beat.
This comes on the heels of NBC’s “Young Rock,” an origin story of a movie star born to a dynasty of famous performers, passing himself off as an awkward striver. The message is clear: Celebrity worship trumps all.
› For the second week in a row, Hulu subscribers
can stream a new movie already in Golden Globe contention. Directed by Lee Daniels, “The United States vs. Billie Holiday” focuses on efforts by the government to harass the singer (Andra Day) as part of its anti-narcotics efforts, as well as on the FBI’s chagrin at her popularizing the anti-lynching ballad “Strange Fruit.”
Andra Day is hardly the first actress to play Lady Day. Diana Ross was nominated for an Oscar for her portrayal in the 1972 musical “Lady Sings the Blues.” In 1977, director Martin Scorsese cast Diahnne Abbott as a singer very much based on Holiday in
his ambitious but flawed musical “New York, New York,” which produced a standard for late-career Frank Sinatra, profiled in the 1992 CBS miniseries, “Sinatra,” starring Leata Galloway as Billie Holiday. The film makes much of the fact that Sinatra learned a lot about phrasing from her performances.
OTHER HIGHLIGHTS
› A military contractor vanishes on “The Blacklist” (8 p.m., NBC, TV-14).
› “WWE Friday Night SmackDown” (8 p.m., Fox, TV-PG).