Teresa and I watched this very slick biopic tonight (or, more strictly speaking, yesterday evening. We really enjoyed it.
It seems popular with Amazon Prime viewers as well, rated at 4&1/2 stars. That’s the platform we watched it on. I note that numerous film critics are quite critical, calling it a ‘cookie cutter’ type affair.
I k in box of get where such critiques are coming from. And yes, the balancing act of retelling a real life story with the affiliated danger dangers of sugar-coated hagiography are a very real problem in this f
Anyway, without going into any great depth. Here are a few thoughts. Yea, we see the usual beautification of characters. Aretha and ex-pimp hubby #1, Ted White, are particularly glammed up. The role of religion in the story is fascinating.
Jennifer Hudson is great as Aretha, albeit admittedly too conventionally pretty. It’s interesting to note that this was Franklin clan sanctioned movie, and Aretha herself effectively cast Hudson in the role!
Forrest Whitaker is great as her Pops, the Rev C L Franklin. And the whole cast Aquitaine themselves admirably. The evocation of Jerry Wexler and his Muscle Shoals crew is very well done.
The movie fares admirably in the ‘Hollywood vs History’ stakes, ticking a lot of the factual boxes. But ultimately it is a kind of love-letter, and not a scholarly fact finding mission.
To me Aretha is pop. And I’ve never been massively into pop. This film, as reverent and cornball as at times it might be, helps me appreciate Aretha as both a person and an artist, so for this alone I think it’s hit to be considered – for me at any rate – a success.
And, with typical irony, her 1972 gospel album, itself the subject of a film, which the record moguls feared would be too niche, confounded the experts gloomy forecasts, and wound up being her biggest seller!
Ok, this isn’t a five star ‘classic’, perhaps. But it is a solid well made telling of a popular story. And a suitable celebration of a great talent, that’ll almost certainly encourage a whole new generation to check out this diva’s fabulous musical legacy.