Still, Corporate Cannibal video (2008) Directed by Nick Hooker.
About the Artist
Beginning in 2005, Grace Jones’ documentary Bloodlight and Bami follows the singer through her personal life, her return to family in Jamaica, and her international performances. The documentary is as reflective of the singer’s life and career in form as it is in content. In choosing Sophie Fienne to direct the film, Jones’ decision reflects a certain sensibility. Sophie had a “tendency to let the camera run on” and eschewed narration, titles, and archive footage in the final product. The refusal of precedent and the raw excess that characterizes Jones’ career bleeds into form in the documentary Bloodlight and Bami. The film minds not spectators who would prefer Jones stick to forms that constrain her image and surroundings to prioritize their own comfort and legibility.
“Jones creates and recreates herself and contexts. [Bloodlight and Bami] is itself a queer ‘world-making project,’ what Lauren Berlant and Michael Warner conceptualize as that “space of entrances, exits, unsystematized lines of acquaintance, projected horizons, typifying examples, alternate routes, blockages, incommensurate geographies.’”[1]
Since the end of filming, Jones has since released a new album Hurricane after a nineteen-year gap, headlined in Afropunk, and released her own autobiography titled I’ll Never Write My Memoirs.
[1]Anderson, Melissa. 2018. Keeping up with the Jones. Artforum International, vol. 56, no. 8, pp. 37-38. New York.
SELECT WORKS
Actress:
Gutterdammerung (2016)
Shaka Zulu: The Citadel (2001)
Wolf Girl (2001)
Boomerang (1992)
Siesta (1987)
Straight to Hell (1987)
Vamp (1986)
A View to A Kill (1985)
Conan the Destroyer (1984)
Studio albums
Hurricane (2008)
Bulletproof Heart (1989)
Inside Story (1986)
Slave to the Rhythm (1985)
Living My Life (1982)
Nightclubbing (1981)
Warm Leatherette (1980)
Muse (1979)
Fame (1978)
Portfolio (1977)
Soundtrack:
Yardie (2018)
Gutterdammerung (2016)
Pride (2014)
Take Me Home Tonight (2011)
Misfits (2010)
Entourage (2009)
Pineapple Express (2008)
Rush Hour 3 (2007)
Go Go Tales (2007)
The Eight (2006)
Lord of War (2005)
Kingpin (2003)
The Wire (2002)
Shaka Zulu: The Citadel (2001)
Save the Last Dance (2001)
Wolf Girl (2001)
200 Cigarettes (1999)
She’s So Lovely (1997)
Beavis and Butthead (1993)
Boomerange (1992)
Toys (1992)
La Petite Amie d’Antonio (1992)
Worth Winning (1989)
Miami Vice (1987)
Siesta (1987)
Straight to Hell (1987)
Vamp (1986)
A View to A Kill (1985)
Conan the Destroyer (1984)
Love Child (1982)
The Midnight Special (1979)
SELECT REVIEWS
Walsh, Kate. “’Grace Jones: Bloodlight and Bami’ Delivers Textured Profile of Music/Fashion Icon.” Los Angeles Times. (April 19, 2018).
Morris, Wesley. “A Performer Who’s Not Just Body and Snarl.” New York Times (April 13, 2018).
Tobias, Scott. “A Diva Deconstructed In ‘Grace Jones: Bloodlight and Bami.’” NPR Movie Reviews. (April 12, 2018).
Wolfe, April. “Grace Jones has One Message: Always Take the Risk.” The Village Voice. (2018).
Terry, Josh. “Movie review: ‘Bloodlight and Bami’ is an Enigmatic Movie About an Enigmatic Singer.” Deseret News. (2018).
Anderson, Melissa. “Keeping Up with the Jones.” Artforum International, vol. 56, no. 8, (2018): pp. 37-38. New York.
Stables, Kate. “Grace Jones Bloodlight and Bami.” Sight and Sound, vol. 27, no. 11, (2017): 68–69.
Lobato, Ramon. “Amazing Grace: Decadence, Deviance, Disco (Grace Jones).” Camera Obscura, no. 65 (2007): 134–39. doi:10.1215/02705346-2007-008.
SELECT INTERVIEWS