20 Feet from Stardom (2013)

From my favorite movies..

The film was still a fun one that will make you laugh and have you leaving the theater feeling like you just stole something valuable and got away with it.

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

This Documentary depicts some wonderful ladies of music, and their trials and tribulations. It also depicts some fantastic back stage stories and behind the scenes background on some wonderful artists and music, and damn these ladies can sing. A definite recommendation for any music lover with contributions from top artists. Alas the topic holding the thread together - as to why most backing singers are Twenty feet from Stardom - comes as no surprise and is summed up briefly by Sting and even Mick Jagger (who lets face it is a man of an acquired taste regarding voice) in one sentence from each of them. Nonetheless it's a great look at music through the years and you do feel for these lovely warm people, some of which were certainly shafted at times in their careers, however we all kinda know now that's the music business. We'll probably never see their like again so well worth spending some time with them.

20 Feet from Stardom was about 5 background singers that never quite made it to the top but were very talented. I think this was to show people the struggle from being a background singer to being a Solo artist. Their names are Merry Clayton, Darlene Love, Claudia Lennear, Lisa Fischer, and Judith Hill. I liked how they could look back on their memories with a smile on their face. I learned that it's not easy to make it somewhere in this world but that doesn't mean it's not worth trying. It surprised me how well these ladies could sing, how talented a lot of background singers are. I would recommend this documentary to anyone.

I watched this movie last night and enjoyed it. This morning I came to write a glowing review, but I decided to read a few other reviews first. Imagine my shock when I saw several informed reviews criticizing the film for its blatant fabrication of facts. So I paused to do some research on my own.The worst fudging seems to be regarding the career of Darlene Love which, to me was the most interesting part of the documentary. It's interesting because Darlene makes the claim, backed by documentarian Morgan Neville, that Darlene was the real lead singer on several songs which ended up being credited to other artists. It blames Phil Spector (you know, the guy who is currently serving 19 years for 2nd degree murder of actress Lana Clarkson) for maliciously manipulating Darlene Love and tricking her with promises of a solo career but instead crediting other singers for Darlene's work. Journalists were unable or unwilling to reach Phil Spector in prison to check facts; the world would much sooner believe a poor victimized singer who is forced to clean houses for a living than a rich & powerful murderer.The truth is convoluted (if you're curious, there's a pretty credible analysis on songfacts.com, search for the song "Da Doo Ron Ron"). The official record stands that Darlene Love has since retracted her claim that she sang lead. Last year the NY Times issued a correction to its article which had praised this film, stating that Darlene Love did NOT sing "Da Doo Ron Ron", but maintained that Darlene sang backup on it. But the real truth is that Darlene's voice wasn't on that song at all. The backup singers were Fanita James, Gracia Nitzsche & Cher.There's more, but you probably get the point. Not only is this documentary inaccurate, it may be deliberately fraudulent for the sake of weaving an underdog story that never was. It's really sad that the film screwed up on that account, because there's plenty of other things it could have focused on instead of claiming that these singers were cruelly manipulated.Like the far superior documentary "Standing in the Shadows of Motown", this film could have focused on the inspirational story of musicians who are simply proud that they helped make musical history--regardless of if they became superstars. In "Shadows" we don't get a weepy pity party for anyone; instead we get a triumphant revelation that the greatest session musicians were just ordinary Joes & Janes who never craved the spotlight. In "20 Feet From Stardom" we get conflicting messages: on one hand that the backup singers are content to remain in the background, on the other hand we get the picture that these backup singers were cheated out of stardom by sleazy producers. And lo & behold, those claims aren't even true.So, like my title says, I feel horribly cheated and manipulated myself. I had come here ready to write a rave review of what I thought was a polished & informative documentary deserving of its Academy Award (make no mistake, the cinematography and intimate studio footage are excellent), but 10 minutes researching the truth showed me that this documentary can't be trusted.Check out "Standing in the Shadows of Motown" instead. If you like other styles of music (like metal, for example) check out a wonderfully heartwarming & unintentionally hilarious documentary called "Anvil! The Story of Anvil". The music world is full of interesting stories without documentarians needing to manufacture them.

There is too much negativity, especially in the end, around the question why some of the talents in the documentary did not become more successful. This rather sour taste becomes a bit too profound in the end, spoiling the pleasure of watching the rest previous part of it. Other than that great talents singing great music! Although it would be more joyful to see a larger variety of artists. I notice a slight tendency in myself of getting bored with the circle of documented people. That could have to do with the negative aspect. I would like to see more documentaries like this, because the subject is interesting enough.