I want to dance with someone
Bottom line: if you like them, you’ll love them
Valuation: ***
corsage
Conclusion: Unusual, but original
Valuation: ***
Most of the musical superstars of recent years seem to have been the subject of either documentaries (David Bowie, Bob Dylan, Amy Winehouse, The Beatles) or biopics (Elvis, James Brown, Freddie Mercury, Elton John).
In I Wanna Dance With Somebody, a dramatization of her life directed by Kasi Lemmons, the late great Whitney Houston doubles, even triples: it’s only been five years since Nick Broomfield dug into the archives, um to tell her compelling story Whitney: Can I Be Me, and only four since Kevin Macdonald’s equally fascinating documentary Whitney.
On the off chance someone can muster the energy, it would be interesting to watch all three films back-to-back.
Macdonald’s film claimed Whitney was abused as a child by her cousin, Dionne Warwick’s sister, Dee Dee. And Broomfield tells us that the star’s mother, Cissy, also a good singer, never got over her jealousy. She felt Whitney had the career she should have had.
Kevin Macdonald’s film claimed Whitney was abused as a child by her cousin, Dionne Warwick’s sister, Dee Dee. Pictured: Naomi Ackie as Whitney Houston in I Wanna Dance With Somebody
But that’s not nearly as it is told in this biopic. There’s no hint of abuse and Cissy (Tamara Tunie) is played as nothing more than passionately loving and supportive, feeding Whitney wisdom like, “Every song’s a story… if it’s not a story, it’s not a song.”
In fact, according to Anthony McCarten’s script, it’s Cissy who brings about Whitney’s big break by faking laryngitis at a gig one night and urging her daughter to come forward to replace her, knowing that influential record producer Clive Davis (Stanley Tucci ) is in the house.
Which version is closest to the truth? Documentaries can twist facts just like dramas. But what drama can give us that documentaries can’t is access to all of life’s private, intimate moments (unless, of course, you’re Meghan and Harry, who obediently kept the cameras on). Whitney himself, but Ackie does fabulous lip-synching.
Most of the ascending vocals are by Whitney himself, but Ackie does a fabulous job of lip syncing. Pictured: Ackie as Whitney Houston
I Wanna Dance With Somebody does it well and is backed by a powerful lead from British actress Naomi Ackie, who is making the most of her own big break. She truly inhabits the role and is entirely believable in the film’s flamboyant set pieces like Whitney’s famous performance of The Star-Spangled Banner at the 1991 Super Bowl.
Most of the ascending vocals are by Whitney himself, but Ackie does a fabulous job of lip syncing. Clarke Peters is also very good as her ruthlessly extravagant father. And Tucci is simply superb, charmingly portraying Davis as the worldly, honeyed sweetheart of a man who gently escorts Whitney into the stratosphere of celebrity as she breaks the Beatles’ record for consecutive number one.
Davis, by the way, is one of the producers of this film, even though he’s ninety years old now. So does Pat Houston, Whitney’s sister-in-law and manager. It is not, therefore, beyond the outer bounds of possibility that there could be a whiff of hagiography from those who see it as their duty to protect both their heritage and their own reputation.
Corsage is another kind of biopic, also about a unique woman who is much less well known to us: the mid-19th century Empress Elisabeth of Austria. Pictured: Vicky Krieps in corsage
McCarten, for the record, also wrote the grossly over-hyped Bohemian Rhapsody (co-produced by Queen Films).
That said, even at two hours and 23 minutes, this is still a perfectly watchable picture of one of the most transcendent of singers, whose unhappy marriage to R&B’s self-proclaimed bad boy Bobby Brown (Ashton Sanders) hastened her drug-addicted journey to self-destruction . She died in 2012 at the age of just 48.
Classic TV Movie: Singin’ in the Rain (1952)
What better way to get over the excesses of the night before than with this timeless gem that features some of the greatest hooliganism in film history and some fabulous songs too.
C5, 1:15 p.m., New Year’s Day
His main problem, as is often the case with biopics, isn’t excessive dramatic freedom, but that he’s trying to tell too much story, which even his massive running time can’t comfortably accommodate. So it does some parts well, others half decent and the rest messed up.
For example, anger among a significant number of African Americans at being repackaged far too obligingly by white executives for white audiences suddenly emerges in the narrative and then just as abruptly disappears.
But if that doesn’t matter to you and you just need an excuse to listen to this incredible voice again, which gives free rein, especially at the end of the film, and from a privileged seat on the floor, then I Wanna Dance With Somebody is worth your hug
Corsage is another kind of biopic, also about a unique woman who is much less well known to us: the mid-19th century Empress Elisabeth of Austria. She is beautifully played by Vicky Krieps, the talented Luxembourgish actress who accomplished the almost impossible in 2017’s Phantom Thread by refusing to be overshadowed by Daniel Day-Lewis.
The title of this German-language film does not refer to a buttonhole, but to a corset that Elisabeth wears as tightly as possible in order (in her opinion) to preserve her fading beauty.
Otherwise, writer-director Marie Kreutzer playfully mixes fact and fiction, throwing out cheeky anachronisms (a wall-mounted phone!) as the moody empress mysteriously navigates a mid-life crisis.
Insofar as a film can be something alive, it is a little too aware of its own weirdness. But it is heightened by Krieps’ performance and by an enticing originality.
Tune in for my top three movies of 2022
There were quite a few cinematic tidbits in 2022, and three of the most valuable are listed below. Maybe it says something about me that they all turn the clock back to a bygone era and none of them feature computer generated effects, superheroes or murders. But they’re all great, and what’s even better, they’re all available to watch at home now. Happy New Year!
1. The Banshees of Inisherin (15, 114 mins)
THE beauty of Martin McDonagh’s picture lies in its simplicity; It’s a story of two men (superbly played by Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson) on a remote island off the coast of Ireland in the 1920s, whose long friendship falls apart when one tells the other that he’s bored. That’s pretty much it, but McDonagh extracts comedy, tragedy, and existential angst from her predicament. A glorious film. (Disney+)
2. The Duke (12A, 95 mins)
This was Roger Michell’s (Notting Hill) last feature film before his untimely death a little over a year ago, and what a lovely farewell; a proper old-fashioned British comedy, set primarily in Newcastle in the early 1960s, telling the true story of an aging street speaker who becomes involved in an unlikely art heist. He is brilliantly played by Jim Broadbent, as is Helen Mirren as his ailing wife. (AppleTV)
3. Liquorice Pizza (15, 133 mins)
WRITE-DIRECTOR Paul Thomas Anderson hasn’t done much wrong since 1997’s Boogie Nights. He’s back at his best in this scintillating tale of a teenage entrepreneur in 1970s Los Angeles who falls in love with an older woman (she’s 25). Debutants Cooper Hoffman and Alana Haim are irresistible; Sean Penn, Bradley Cooper and Tom Waits add to the grizzled experience. A box office bomb and still an absolute pleasure. (Amazon Prime video).