20 Feet From Stardom

Monday, July 22, 2013


Backup singers live in a world that lies just beyond the spotlight. Their voices bring harmony to the biggest bands in popular music, but we've had no idea who these singers are or what lives they lead, until now.  
-- from IMDb

I first saw the trailer for 20 Feet From Stardom at E Street Cinema when I went to see Joss Whedon's Much Ado About Nothing, and I could tell within 30sec that this movie had something special. I'd never thought much before about what the backup singers had meant to some of my favorite songs, but just seeing things from their perspective a little and hearing about their struggles to make it as solo artists, was incredibly moving.

The full theatrical release was, as you can imagine, even better. Darlene Love, Judith Hill, Lisa Fischer - there are so many women out there whose only job was to make that person singing in the front sound fantastic. They had to work to either suppress, accept, or change their own dreams in order to do that, and the bittersweet agony of watching them talk about it was just....amazing. The musical talent portrayed is off the charts and I think the individual characters portraits are what draw you in to the story. Except the story is the lives of these women which means there isn't always a happily ever after, and one is definitely not guaranteed.

I highly recommend this movie for everyone!

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