Amazing Grace (2018) – 2/5

Frankly, this was not the iconic artist, performance or experience I was expecting

Here we have „Amazing Grace“, a music documentary from 2018 and I could say that this thus had its fifth anniversary last year, but it would be more accurate to say that this is from 1972, so it had its 50th anniversary last year, maybe even older already depending on when you get here to read this review of mine, because all the footage you see in here is from the early 1970s and only the editing was done a few years later pretty much. This may also explain why Sydney Pollack is credited as one of the two directors here and he died way before 2018. He was the one in charge of the direction back then, but as you can see during the first minutes of the film, this was never completed back then, but now not too long ago it was and it is the only official directing credit for Alan Elliott who otherwise you only found/find in the music department, as a composer etc. So it is debatable if I would even call him a director here. This film runs for 1.5 hours, actually slightly under and it shows us a concert by singer Aretha Franklin that was recorded on two successive nights at a church in Los Angeles, so the focus was very much on gospel here. Her maybe most known number after which the documentary is named as well was the closing number of the first night. I myself definitely prefer LeAnn Rimes‘ version of this song and it is not even a close call. There are probably other renditions of „Amazing Grace“ that I also liked more than Franklin’s. No clue why everybody thinks it is such a standout and if we are honest, there are also not really too many other songs that she is known for or that come to mind when you are being asked to name one or two.

So I am not sure if you can say that they saved the best for last here, the song „Amazing Grace“, but the version she performed did not really win me over anyway. I did not like it how much she stretched the individual lines. In general, I was not blown away by her voice or performance here. Is she a good singer? Yes, but she is not an icon and maybe if you looked closely enough into all the choir singers from this performance, you might have found one or two who would have been equally good with the songs presented here. Many people in the audience returned for the second night, but I think I wouldn’t have. Franklin was slightly under the age of 30 when this was recorded and Pollack himself was not even 40 and had just scored his first Oscar nominations. The others (including his two wins) were still a bit away time-wise. But today we shall talk about this documentary here. It did score a solid amount of awards attention itself back after the release, especially in America, but at the really big ceremonies it did not get in, maybe because it was not original anymore. I must say all the praise for Franklin here was a bit too much for my liking. Humbleness seemed entirely absent and I did not like that, especially because I did not see her performance here as really that iconic. Her father, who was a famous reverend, so it was back to the roots for her too, held a speech here that was not really helping much either. I still find it shocking and sorry to read that less than ten years later, he was shot several times and ended up in a coma for five years before he finally departed. Franklin I already stated her age here and she was definitely on the slim side in her younger years before she grew bigger as she got older.

James Cleveland is pretty much the host of this show as he was introducing the famous singer and cracking a few jokes here and there, but he also showed his musical talent that night and performed several sings together with Franklin. His moment in which he seems to take a quick break and bury his head in his hands because of Franklin’s greatness or alleged greatness was still a bit on the cringeworthy side. Same goes for his saying on at least two occasions that the second night will even be better. But he was still pretty likable I thought and maybe his jokes weren’t also always the best, but they had charm. He had charm. This is maybe the most important thing there. His words to the audience or those people therein who are maybe not the most religious people were entertaining too and really fitting also now in the 21st century and you could say that he was talking to us in the room. But it still must be clear that the Jesus component here is undeniable with the pic image of him that we saw on several occasions. So you cannot say that you despise the Church altogether and still appreciate music like this. The connection is as close as it gets. By the way, if we go back to Cleveland, I must say that the „Three Blind Mice“ tune is awesome! I might have liked this documentary more if she had performed that as well there. But good for her and I respect that she delivered in so many different music genres. I think most of the other people in my screening, which was pretty packed and it wasn’t even a one-time occasion, liked the overall outcome here more than I did. I would just call it another music documentary that does not really need to be seen, neither on the big or small screen. The guy behind me really got in the groove, so yeah if gospel and Black music (not hip-hop) is more your thing than mine, then maybe you will also enjoy the outcome more.

This was shown here again on the big screen on the occasion of a film retrospective on Black American cinema. I am not too sure how well it fits in there, but I guess it’s okay as so many people came to watch it. More than with some movies with actors. Many more. There were also some guests and familiar faces seen here. Not only Pollack, but for example gospel singer Clara Ward is asked to the staged and I see she died really shortly after this was made at a way too young age. That is sad. Not asked to the stage, but still in the audience of the second night it was I think were Rolling Stones band members Mick Jagger and Charlie Watts, which I guess showed how Franklin also inspired musicians from completely other genres and also made it obvious that this was quite a special event. Watts died not too long ago and same is true for Alexander Hamilton, the conductor or choir director who also has a lot of screen time here. At the very beginning we are told about the big success Franklin was enjoying at that point with her music. Commercial success and also in terms of awards. She won a few Grammys. I mean with all the not entirely positive I said about her and that I do find her a bit overrated, I would always pick her music over today’s Beyoncé and she holds the record now for most Grammy wins or so. Really tragic what she has turned into after Destiny’s Child and that awards bodies are still honoring her completely forgettable work. But that is another story.

Eventually, I must say that the good moments in this documentary from 2018 here were not frequent enough for a positive recommendation and for all I care, it was not necessary to bring this concert to the world again. It’s a thumbs-down for me. Not recommended. I say only see it if you are already an Aretha Franklin fan before watching. This won’t turn you into one otherwise, so maybe you’d better skip then. Oh yeah, one final thing: The moment when they wiped the sweat off Aretha’s face while she was singing was hilarious. Great comedic moment, even if it wasn’t even meant like that. Something like this could never happen in the 21st century now. Everybody else in the audience found it amusing too. Or what was with that scene(s) when it escalated and security or so almost had to step in or when garments were shown or almost thrown around? This was hilarious. Honestly, I enjoyed the unintentional comedy factor here almost more than the music. Cut the „almost“ if you like. That is really all now. I still stand with the thumbs-down overall.