“Amazing Grace”: Film Review Podcast
Posted: May 10th, 2019 | Filed under: Cinema, Film Reviews Podcast, Music | 1 Comment »
Concert footage of the iconic 1972 Gospel Concert by Lady Soul Aretha Franklin has finally been released, under the title, “Amazing Grace.”
It languished in the vaults for decades, essentially because director Sydney Pollack didn’t know how to film a concert. Only when digital editing allowed the visuals and sound to be synchronized was the raw concert footage able to be turned into a film.
And, then, for reasons which remain somewhat mysterious — though I offer a possible explanation in my podcast — Ms. Franklin herself forbade its release before her passing.
It is a blessing that it is finally in release, and will be showing dozens of times in my town at the Speed Museum Cinema between now and the end of May.
Though the film is to be seen and savored by anyone who cares about music, in my podcast below, I discuss some oddities about the filming of this concert that temper my enthusiasm somewhat.
Please listen:
Hi Chuck….
Glad to share my opinion on Amazing Grace. Course you know I’m no fancy pants, so my thoughts are pretty basic compared to yours as a writer. Just know what I know and that is that the film was too long and too much of the same same. I appreciated the talent and skill of both Aretha and her bro, but for me, it was “enough already”….and, that’s that.
Good Shabbos and Shalom.
Rachel