Amazing Grace 2018

     On January 13, 1972, it was arranged that Aretha Franklin would sing with the choir at the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Watts, Los Angeles, California.  Aretha wanted to release a record but she also wanted to record in this church instead of a studio.  She played some piano and Reverend James Cleveland also played piano and sang.

     Nearly fifty years have passed and this film is finally released.  It was intended as a TV special, Aretha was nearing 30 and at the peak of her creative powers.  The film was abandoned because of a syncing problem and Alan Elliot was finally able to solve this issue a few years ago.  After Aretha passed last year, her family agreed to the release of the movie.  If this film had been made more recently, there probably would have been pauses in filming to pat down the faces of Aretha, the Reverend and the choir director.  They were profusely sweating?  You can tell there was no air conditioning and fans were probably not used either.  Possibly, because of the whirring noises? 

     Aretha died on August 13, 2018 because of a pancreatic neuroendocrine tumor.  This is a rare type of tumor that arises from specialized body cells that have the traits of both nerve and hormone-producing cells.  Before she died she had been under hospice care and was surrounded by friends and family.  Aretha had issues with her weight for many years.  In 1974 she lost 40 pounds and maintained her new weight until the end of the decade.  She was a former chain smoker and she struggled with alcoholism.  She quit smoking in 1992 and she admitted in 1994 that smoking was messing with her voice.  Her weight rose again after she quit smoking.  4* (I really liked this movie)

   

99 min, Doc directed by Alan Elliott and Sydney Pollack with Aretha Franklin, James Cleveland, Southern California Community Choir, C. L. Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, Bernard Pretty Purdie, Chuck Rainey,
Clara Ward.

Note:  Imbd 7.8 out of 10, RollingStone 5* Peter Travers, The Guardian 5* Jordan Hoffman, Roger Ebert 4* Odie Henderson, IndieWire Grade B+, The Washington Post 4* Ann Hornaday, Amazon 4.3*out of 5* with 49 reviews.

Special Note:  Director Sydney Pollack was inexperienced in the filming of a music documentary.  He directed without clapper-boards snapping shut at the beginning of each take.  This method helps synchronize sound and picture in post-production.  The choir director was brought in to try to lip-read the film reels but this didn't work.  After months of work by experts, the footage could not be synchronized with the audio tracks.  Twenty hours of footage was shot by five 16mm-cameras in two days.  The album with the music came out in June 1972 and it sold millions of copies with no synergy.  Mick Jagger and Charlie Watts can be seen rocking out in the back of the church.  They were scheduled to record Exile on Main Street, the most gospel influenced album made by the Stones.