From the movie "Whitney" (Forum Film)
Star rating for movies - 2 stars (photo: image processing, .)
Some of the cinematic trends of the previous year will continue with us into 2023, and probably beyond.
One of them is the flood of musical biographies, a phenomenon that started mainly because of the success of "Bohemian Rhapsody", and who knows when it will stop.
Last summer we also got "Elvis", soon we will see films about Leonard Bernstein, Carole King, Madonna and who not, and in the meantime you can watch "Whitney - I Wanna Dance with Somebody", which was released this weekend.
As the name implies, this biography presents the story of Whitney Houston, from the beginning of her career in the eighties until her death about a decade ago at the age of only 48, following a long-term addiction to drugs.
The road there includes many high and low moments.
On the one hand, it becomes a factory of hits, including the song named after the film;
sang the national anthem at the Super Bowl;
Blockbuster with "The Bodyguard" alongside Kevin Costner and in general is recorded as one of the most popular and beloved singers in history, and as one of the most successful black singers in the history of American culture
On the other hand, she is kneeling under the weight of expectations.
Her mother, a singer who did not have similar success, always expects her to sing better;
The media, the industry and the fans set unreasonable standards for her, as they do for any big star, and in her case there are also some specific circumstances.
The record company executives demand that she cover up her lesbian relationship, and the black community comes at her with claims that she is "congregating," and that her music is too white and not black enough.
Those close to her also betray her: her partner Bobby Brown abuses her, and her father molests her.
A lesbian relationship.
From "Whitney" (Photo: Forum Film)
"Whitney" tries to cram all this into one movie, and as expected - it fails.
Although the result lasts over two hours, it is nonetheless hurried and superficial, skipping from one station to another with the brevity of a Wikipedia entry.
Let's take for example the episode dealing with "The Bodyguard".
It is difficult to underestimate the importance of the film.
It was the first time a black actress starred alongside a white actor in a romantic hit that became a huge blockbuster worldwide.
It was also the first time that Hollywood photographed a black actress in the same way they had previously photographed Audrey Hepburn and her ilk.
"Whitney" doesn't address a pinch of it.
He gives the "bodyguard" two minutes and moves on.
If it wasn't infuriating and sad, it would be funny.
The film pays a little more attention to the claims that Houston's music was "too white", and these are its most interesting moments.
The scene that deals with this is really fascinating, but it ends quickly and "Whitney" does not return to discuss the subject,
On the other hand, the film gives too much screen time to Clive Davis, the Jewish-American who was Houston's music producer and a co-producer of this cinematic biography - and perhaps therefore also takes over it.
The Jewish producer takes over the film.
From "Whitney" (Photo: Forum Film)
In the best tradition of Italian-Americans playing Jews, Davis is played by Stanley Tucci, who wears a strange wig for the role.
He emphasizes to Houston that he is neither a "summer camp instructor nor a rabbi", and then also incorporates Yiddish words.
He also talks about himself and his bisexual identity constantly, launching poetic phrases like "I'm an open book, though the fonts are small."
Nice, who cares?
This is a movie about Whitney Houston, not about you.
On Davis' side, Pat Houston, the late singer's sister-in-law, was also involved in the film production.
Perhaps because of this, the rabbi of the hidden here is more than the visible.
The film mentions the lesbian relationship Whitney had - but shows nothing.
He admits that she was addicted to drugs - but presents it in a clean version for the whole family, so that she could just as well have been addicted to gummies.
Whenever tension, conflict and drama arrive, the film panics, bypasses the obstacle and runs on.
Usually his solution is to press play and put another direct that will distract the mind.
It could also have been called "Shut Up and Play the Hits", like the James Murphy docu.
One-time voice.
From "Whitney" (Photo: Forum Film)
This biography also has virtues.
Her heroine is played by the British actress Naomi Aki, who does not try to imitate the late goddess but simply plays a character, and does so with great talent.
For those wondering, she hardly ever sings here herself - most of the time the film uses playback, reminding us that Houston had a huge and unique voice.
The film was directed by Casey Lemons, who broke through in the nineties with the celebrated "Secrets of Eve" and recently directed another biography, of Harriet Tubman.
Her talent is evident here and there, but most of the time the limitations of the genre and the script defeat it, and the result does not excel.
The music, of course, is wonderful, and the scenes that take place in the eighties are especially wonderful - you can't help but enjoy the style that young Whitney and her surroundings had.
But as the film progresses, it loses its sting and focus.
The last months of the singer's life should bring the drama to a climax, but the opposite is happening.
At the end of the road, this biography becomes soft and fluffy like margarine, and sometimes you can even forget whose life it is about and what story it tells.
Not a fix, but a step back.
From "Whitney" (Photo: Forum Film)
This is not the first film to present Huston's story, in the decade since her death there have already been several previous attempts to do so, led by Kevin McDonald's excellent docu.
The media showered him with praise (so did we), but the singer's relatives were not satisfied with the result, because it dared to focus on the dark sides of the late goddess's life.
The new feature film was made with the stated goal of "rectifying this injustice", according to the words of the screenwriter Anthony McCartan, who plays with the facts and among other things invents an uplifting ending for the life of Houston Chord that was not and was not created.
But contrary to the pretensions of this biography, it is not a "correction" - but a step back.
A great and important singer like Whitney Houston deserves a more mature and complex treatment, and not a film like this, whose sole purpose seems to be to allow her family to regain control of the narrative.
Unlike "Bohemian Rhapsody" and "Elvis", this musical biography crashed at the box office.
Maybe she will later become a streaming success, but for now at least we can declare this: the Houston family's attempt to dictate to us how to remember the singer has failed artistically and failed publicly as well.
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