20 Feet from Stardom (2013)

Absolutely Fantastic

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

This is the second documentary I've watched about the music business within the last week. I was really looking forward to seeing it, but by the time it ended I was so glad that it was finally over.This film seems like nothing more than a promotion for the handful of singers who are featured - apparently the people who made the movie felt that these women (and one or two men) were the only background singers of note. Add to that the fact that almost without exception, these singers wanted (or want) to be front and center and the doc feels like a marketing tool. It became incredibly tiresome after a while. Don't get me wrong - these women can "sang" (often better than the people they are backing) and I can appreciate and respect the amount of talent they have. They added so much to the songs they did vocals on and the songs wouldn't have the same without what they contributed. I found, though, that I burnt out quickly on the "poor, poor pitiful me" undertone and the whining about "I should have been a huge star" or "I got screwed". I would have thought that these folks would have been grateful for the opportunities they had - making money doing something they love, doing it exceedingly well, having a job that many people would sell their souls to do and being in the successful elite who were lucky enough to make it in an exceeding tough and competitive business.Finally, if you consider that apparently the doc isn't entirely truthful (see other reviews for information on that), the film really isn't worth a watch.Maybe if I had watched "TWENTY FEET" first instead of "THE WRECKING CREW" (which I loved), I wouldn't feel like I'd just watched a very long and desperate promo reel.

all about the African American women who served as backup singers to big stars.two full hours…some good moments, but over-shadowed by blaming others for the same. How dare they (elton, Elvis, Tom Jones, etc…) not give equal billing to the backup singers who made them superstars?The movie got old after ten minutes. And unless you enjoy that angry yelling type of singing, you might not enjoy this movie.So this review I guess has to be a minimum of ten lines before they will post it. Overall it might be worth watching if you're a bleeding heart and enjoy hearing people whine. But in my case, I love the program The Voice, and I usually put it on mute when loud mouth women come on and start screaming. Maybe that's because it's not a good sound to me. I prefer softer voices. Now, is that ten lines? I hope so, because i would like for others to know what this movie is about before they spend $$$, or rather, waste $$$.thank you.

The 2014 Oscar winner for Best Documentary. Good documentary on the lives and careers of some of rock/R&B music's most famous background singers, and the highs and lows of being a background singer.Featured singers include Merry Clayton, who provided probably the pinnacle moment in backing vocal history when she sang on the Rolling Stones' "Gimme Shelter". Coincidentally (or not) also includes the current Stones female backing singer, Lisa Fischer.Includes recent interviews with some of the greats they supported: Mick Jagger, Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Wonder, Sting.Some good insights into the music industry, and the pluses and minuses of being a support artist vs a lead artist. There is something missing though. While good, the documentary doesn't seem to have that extra something to make it profound, and brilliant. Hard to put the finger on what the missing ingredient is. Maybe it is the lack of glamour in the role: the whole thing just seems so low- key, especially compared to the lives of the people they supported.Ultimately, an interesting look into the lives of the lesser-known, but still important, contributors to the music industry.

"Twenty Feet from Stardom" is written and directed by Morgan Neville, who is not new to the genre at all. He has already worked on documentaries about Johnny Cash, Pearl Jam and Ray Charles to name only a few. Here, however, he takes a look at these who are not in the limelight: the background singers. It is a bit of an irony that his biggest success, namely an Academy Award win for Best Documentary, comes with putting the focus on these and not on the real superstars. I cannot say too much about how deserving this film was to win as I have not seen any of the other nominees, but I have seen Blackfish and it is quite a shame that this Orca-based documentary did not even get nominated.I did not really like "20 Feet from Stardom". Most of it is very clichéd. They keep saying several times that you need a huge ego for a huge career and that they are maybe background singers as they lack that ego. However, from the way these ladies acted and talked, I did not have the impression at all that they weren't egoistic enough. They seemed actually to have a bigger ego than some of the stars they did the background for. Maybe it simply is that they are not talented enough? The upside of this documentary is that you hear some real quality songs and see some interesting artists in a bit of a behind the scenes documentary. I liked the Stones' performance of Gimme Shelter with a magnificent performance from the female singer and also the version of "Lean on Me" near the end. These two are not enough to save the film from mediocrity though. It is certainly not the ultimate background singer documentary I had hoped for.The Phil Specter criticism part was probably intended as one of the emotionally sad highlight, but the way it was displayed with the look in her face and the music in the background was just so over the top as if a 1,000 people just died that it felt completely artificial and cringeworthy. Other than that, the majority of the film is uplifting despite them letting us know what a tough job they actually have. But all the ones interviewed have performed with absolute superstars, so my sympathy is kind of limited here. If there is an upper class of background singers, then it is those people shown int his documentary. What about the ones struggling even harder? Where are they? It just lost a lot of credibility for me because of that. I am sure they made good money and still they behaved like they got absolutely nothing.The film also showed that it is actually possible to make it from background singer to "real" singer and I liked the "Lion King" reference as I quite adore the film. What I found strange is that this film somehow lets the audience think there are only black female background singers. With one or two exceptions, none of the many people in there were male or white. I don't know what Neville intended with limiting it to that one specific group and what his point was in doing that. I personally would have hoped for a more general film in terms of the history of background singers instead of the specific lives and fates of those interviewed. Sometimes it just wasn't interesting enough to attract my attention. Not recommended.