I read today on Google News and few other sites about the passing of Nina Simone, the high priestess of soul.

I first came across her music from the odd place, the reasonable American remake of Le Femme Nikita called Point of No Return (originally entitled The Assassin when I saw the trailer) with Gabriel Byrne and Bridget Fonda.

Bryne plays the CIA agent while Fonda the role of the reluctant assassin. She uses Simone's music to quell her inner demons. Simone's music is, of course, lovely, and is also one of the few notable differences, other than the beefed up cast, between the original and the remake. The movie's other great asset is Venice Beach as backdrop for Fonda's re-entry into the real world.

Says PONR director John Badham, "Simone is a woman who doesn't take any crap from anybody." Right on, brother.