Charlize Theron at the March 14 world premiere of East of Havana Credit: Photo By Gary Miller

Music Is My Life, Politics My Mistress

D: Donnie L. Betts

Subheaded The Oscar Brown Jr. Story, the former actor and current radio producer Betts’ first directorial effort more than delivers on the promise, telling it with style and substance. A joy to watch throughout, layered with performance footage, private photos, animation, and interviews with the likes of Studs Terkel, Abbey Lincoln, Amiri Baraka, Charles Weldon, Nichelle Nichols, and the great songwriter, author, and performer himself (shot skillfully and tenderly in black and white). A heroic artist dear to Chicago, America, and admirers overseas, Brown died in May of 2005, and this is a crucial, unifying document of his considerable legacy. At times, that document numbs with an overload of imagery and information, but ambition in the work of, in this case, a reporter trying to capture and scale the personality of a force, is rarely a bad thing. Also rare: Capturing it so well. Watch for this one when and if it comes back around. – Shawn Badgley

This article appears in March 24 • 2006.

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Marjorie Baumgarten is a film critic and contributing writer at The Austin Chronicle, where she has worked in many capacities since the paper's founding in 1981. She served as the Chronicle's Film Reviews editor for 25 years.

A graduate of the Michener Center for Writers at the University of Texas, Kimberley has written about film, books, and pop culture for The Austin Chronicle since 2000. She was named Editor of the Chronicle in 2016; she previously served as the paper’s Managing Editor, Screens Editor, Books Editor, and proofreader. Her work has been awarded by the Association of Alternative Newsmedia for excellence in arts criticism, team reporting, and special section (Best of Austin). The Austin Alliance for Women...