Ella Fitzgerald: Just One of Those Things

Woodhead’s movie is at its best in how neatly it delineates the different musical phases of Fitzgerald’s career.

Gathering new interviews and a fine selection of archival material, British documentarian Leslie Woodhead tells Fitzgerald's story with a sure feel for the joyous swing and sultry depths of that voice, and a sensitive eye on the complexities of life as a self-made Black woman in 20th century America.

The best thing about Ella Fitzgerald: Just One of Those Things, other than the music, is the way it evokes an era and reminds us that its subject was one of the great voices of the 20th century.

Just One of Those Things checks off all the stream-age doc boxes: unheard audio, unseen home movies, color from family, collaborator-peers, and celebs.

It proceeds dryly and largely chronologically through her life, sometimes with an awkward sense of proportion.