20 Feet from Stardom

I'm not sure what happened to January: I went back to work, we screened two films and now it's February.

20 Feet from Stardom was a great revelation and a brilliant film.  The subject of backing singers is rich for exploration, and it would have been possible to have constructed any number of dramas from the characters who appeared in it.

It was a worthy winner of the Oscar for Best Documentary.

Here are my notes:

20 Feet from Stardom

USA 2013                    90 minutes

Director:                      Morgan Neville

Awards and Nominations:

• Won 2014 Oscar for Best Documentary
• A further 17 wins and 18 nominations

“Such a great idea for a documentary, and such a surprise to realise that it has never been done before.  Morgan Neville's Oscar-winning film is about the backing singers who have lent their musical talents to many a star name's pop record.  Sometimes they have been acknowledged and appreciated, and sometimes not.  Sometimes they have been content with a supporting role, and sometimes not.  But once you accept the backing-singer role, it is very difficult to break out.”

Peter Bradshaw

Morgan Neville’s film received its premiere at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival where it was acquired for nationwide release by Radius – The Weinstein Company and was also screened at many film festivals.  The film received nearly universal positive reviews with Rotten Tomatoes giving it an approval rating of 99%.

Morgan Neville began his career as a journalist before turning to film production in 1993.  He made a series of documentaries about various musicians and was nominated for three Grammys and followed these by the award-winning The Cool School about the birth of modern art in Los Angeles. 

Here is the trailer: