Poster of 20 Feet From Stardom

20 Feet From Stardom

Documentary, Biography, History

Director: Morgan Neville

Release Date: July 26, 2013

Where to Watch

I wanted this AH-MAZING documentary to be longer! With so much talent, it would actually take effort to make it bad. Each singer’s life was fascinating & deserved his or her own documentary. The performance clips were transcendent, especially anything featuring Tina Turner and her backup singers/dancers. Only a few items to quibble about, but nothing that should deter anyone from seeing 20 Feet From Stardom, especially anyone that has ever listened to music: maybe the filmmaker wanted to only herald the overlooked backup singers, but since there is some focus on the subject of backup singers inability to make the transition to stardom, I thought some time should have been devoted to Sheryl Crow. Also there was one backup singer, a white woman, that was given a few moments to talk and was featured in most of the current performances, but they didn’t really interview her as an individual, even briefly, and not sure if that was a judgment of her quality, which did not seem to be the case since she was featured in the performances, but possibly because it did not fit the narrative of the importance of gospel experience in rock n’ roll. Finally (don’t hurt me), I’m not sure why Bruce Springsteen was held up as the expert on backup singers since unlike Sting & Mick Jagger, he didn’t discuss his specific experience with them as individuals while on tour–perhaps to attract a broader audience. Seemed unnecessary and extraneous. Otherwise I wanted more!!! Visually there were some clever moments such as intercutting the blander version of backup singers with their subsequent, more exciting counterparts, but when the director used the same technique to show the range of Lisa Fischer’s career, it was frustrating because I wanted the time to luxuriate in EVERYTHING.

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