Movie Review: 20 feet from stardom (2013)
Written by Anthony Sargon
Out of the five Academy Award nominated documentaries this year, “20 Feet From Stardom” is probably the weakest. It’s not that the film is uninteresting or offensive; it just plays it too safe and, to quote a friend, feels more like a VH1 special than an actual theatrical documentary. Still, it’s an honest and enlightening look at the lives of backup singers and the pain they go through when trying to make it on their own, and it’s most certainly worth watching if you’re a fan of music.
Directed by Morgan Neville, the documentary gives us a behind-the-scenes look at the lives of some of the most successful backup singers in the world; Darlene Love, Judith Hill, Merry Clayton, and Lisa Fischer, among others. Don’t know who the hell they are? It doesn’t matter, because I can guarantee that you’ve heard a lot of their work before. That’s the point this film tries to make: Some of these backup singers have done some tremendous work that’ll outlive all of us, yet they don’t get the recognition they deserve. Most of them live in tiny little apartments and reminisce about the good ol’ days, which is BS because they could (and should) have easily been huge stars in their own right. It’s eye-opening.
With the exception of Darlene Love, most of the artists in the documentary were never able to break out on their own. That’s why the film’s title makes so much sense. These ladies were working with some of the biggest names in entertainment, went on global tours and got a taste of fame and stardom. When the time came for them to do it on their own, all that support seemed to just dissipate. They may have been standing 20 feet from stardom, but they got pigeonholed as backup singers. You watch as stars like Sting, Bruce Springsteen, and Mick Jagger shower them with praise, and yet some of them ended up cleaning houses just to make ends meet.
The Verdict:
“20 Feet From Stardom” may not be as powerful and skillfully put together as The Square, The Act of Killing, Cutie and the Boxer, or even Dirty Wars, but it has a lot of charm. I just wish it didn’t feel like a TV special.
Numerical Score: 7/10
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