SVS: “20 Feet from Stardom”

Last updated on: March 9, 2015 at 5:55 pm by Joseph Susanka

SVS: “20 Feet from Stardom” 2015-03-09T17:55:56-06:00 Joseph Susanka

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

This year’s Oscar-winning documentary, Citizenfour, is not currently available for streaming. At least not legally. Yet. Unless you’ve got HBOGo.

A couple of the others — Last Days in Vietnam and Finding Vivian Maier — can be rented from Amazon Instant. And Virunga belongs to Netflix, so it’s available. But the winner? Nope. No can do.

So if you (like me) enjoy hunting down the various winners as they become available, you’ll have to put that on hold for a bit. But as an Oscar-winner-check-box-ticking alternative, I offer you last year’s winner — 20 Feet from Stardom — on NETFLIX INSTANT. And AMAZON INSTANT($), YOUTUBE($), and VUDU($).

And it’s pretty fantastic.

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.

Heck, this one might be worth recommending based on the soundtrack alone. But I’m not doing that. Even if I could. Because there’s lots (and lots) more here to love.

Like all the little recording details (and larger-than-life divas). And the impact these women have had on a vast swath of massively popular, incredibly influential music. Just astonishing. The latter stuff (including some stunning revelations on the anonymity of that impact) is why I found the elder stateswomen in the film so much more interesting than the youngster(s). They’d influenced so much that I’ve heard and loved for years, but that I realize I’ve never really heard ’til now.

At times, I struggled to escape the feeling that the film isn’t quite sure if it it’s decrying the failures, the discrimination, and the impossible obstacles or praising the perseverance and the successes. No, those two categories aren’t opposed to one another, but it’s easier to combine those things when you’re focusing on a person (or two) rather than a fairly large group. Still, that’s not something to worry about too much, really. I’m not even entirely sure it’s a criticism. Just something that made it feel like it was “moving around a bit” on me as I was watching it.

Besides, I’d forgive it that and more (and easily) for Lisa Fischer alone.

Attribution(s): All posters, publicity images, and movie stills are the property of RADiUS-TWC and other respective production studios and distributors, and are intended for editorial use only.

Movies

Streaming Video Suggestions

Previous Post

March 5, 2015

A Lenten Musical Journey, Day 16

Next Post

March 6, 2015 A Lenten Musical Journey, Day 17

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Art Baseball Faith Family Lenten Music Movies Music No Commentary Necessary Parked By the Jukebox Photography Politics Quodlibets Streaming Video Suggestions Summa Short Films Television The Man Behind the Booth Through a Lens, Darkly

Select a Month December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 July 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 November 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz