Aretha Franklin -- RIP

I liked it and wished the men would shut the fuck up, especially the bisexual queen Cleveland.

I could have done without shots of Pollack and his film crew as well

If you cut it down to just the singing, it's a 50-minute film. No profit there. A feature needs to show behind-the-scenes.

I wish, like the Jackson film, we had had contextual interviews. A different film, of course.

Yes. Interviews would have been nice. Seeing the seemingly all white guy film crew bugged me more than seeing Rev Franklin and Rev Cleveland, as the latter were part of her life ( as annoying as they were). I guess the Revs did take up more onscreen time.

This was great! Can't imagine how or why this film would not feature Cleveland as prominently as it did...? It's his church, his choir, his ministry, his congregation. It seemed evident she savored bing back in church and not "on stage."

I also appreciated that we saw the film crew, saw the extent to which their presence presented a hurdle to clear in terms of maintaining a worship-first vibe.

I thought C.L. taking care to dry her face was a really tender and moving moment.

My only gripe—along the same lines—was that the mix (at least where I saw it) didn't really sound like the room. I would have preferred a really full ambient recording of the space.

yeah Cleveland was certainly important to the show (and mentored her in her youth, right?) but apparently Aretha herself, per the NYT feature a week ago, that his and C L's screentime made her "wallpaper" in her own film; that's why she disliked it, in part.

*Aretha herself felt that

yeah their connection and comfort level was cool to see

I can see that a little bit w/r/t C.L., he was def soaking it up a little....as a preacher's kid I can attest that this unfortunately comes w/ the territory

He didn't hide his queerness either, which I would've liked the film to explain at least.

not sure how the directorial conceit could have accommodated that, or to what end

I mean it was just stuff happening in a room

Well, the film is a mess -- it's barely a film, just shards -- held together by Aretha's stoicism, the music, and the frantic manner in which Cleveland channels his flamboyance into performance (professionally, I'll add).

I don't know. A film about these shows could have integrated what we know about Cleveland in voice-over, interviews, titles, something; it's just too damn fraught, in retrospect. And there's rumors about Aretha's own bisexuality too.

I had problems with the MJ documentary not contexualizing events too.

Plus, how many white people know Clara Ward -- also bisexual!

yeah I guess a different approach that would have allowed for that (and eased the disjointedness) would be something more like a film-about-an-attempted-film

or a film about that gospel milieu, the people involved, her upbringing

but those performances are amazing, I had to duck out and ask to have it turned up

Her performance obviously makes the movie.

Re, other stuff, Was just reading Internet allegations stuff about Rev Franklin having been involved with Clara Ward for a long time, and that having broken up the marriage between Rev CL Franklin & Aretha’s Mom decades before this gig

church is a place to get busy

My favorite shot was the one where Aretha first sits down at the piano on the first night, just sitting there waiting for Cleveland to finish his introduction, with a blank expression on her face that you're tempted to read some kind of feeling/thought into. You can only imagine what was going through her head at that moment.

^^^ yes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDxzQJaA228

This is like my favorite song of all times

I've really, really warmed to it.

it’s def a fave of mine

A will that was found in a couch has been deemed valid, putting an end to the estate battle.

That’s wild

Just heard about this even though the upload's over a decade old:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdnj2gK68Y4

Two years before her breakthrough at Atlantic, and also that's Darlene Love in the middle of the trio of background singers! A slightly faster arrangement of the hit record by Betty Everett, but it's pretty awesome how much Aretha brings to the second half when she belts those notes. Even at 0:32, that tremor in her voice is amazing.

I feel very fortunate that I was able to take my whole family to what turned out to be her final concert.