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Wait for Your Laugh (2017)
Quite a long and interesting Career
I was a bit familiar with Rose Marie from Hollywood Squares and Dick Van Dyke reruns. But she had a much longer and very interesting career. She started very young singing on stage and on the radio. The Mob took an interest in her ("as a daughter, not a girlfriend" she says) so she knew Al Capone as a child. As an adult she was part of the opening line-up for the Flamingo Hotel (with Xavier Cougat and Jimmy Durante) so she knew Bugsy Seigel. The film covers he career with commentary from Rose herself, many co-stars and friends. Her husband died relatively young leaving her as a single working mother. There are many enjoyable stories told - and I'm sure there are many more that didn't make it, especially about Las Vegas in it's first booming years. I enjoyed this film very much.
Clive Davis: The Soundtrack of Our Lives (2017)
Detailed but not too deep history of a music industry icon
This documentary is a detailed look at the career of Clive Davis, an icon in the music industry. He brought Columbia Records into Rock (Janis Joplin, Bruce Springsteen), co-founded Arista records (1st act was Barry Manilow) creating hit records for over 40 years and showing an amazing ability to change with the times. The documentary is primarily chronological, briefly mentioning his childhood and early career, moving quickly to when he became President of Columbia Records - a job he never imagined getting. It is then mostly about the hit acts he found with stories by employees, artists, some critics, competing executives, Davis himself, and much wonderful archive footage. Because there is so much to cover (Janis Joplin to Alicia Keys) the music is in small clips - you don't get full songs. But you know so many of the songs that you fill in the context yourself. His relationship with Whitney Houston (almost a father-daughter connection) occupies a significant part of the film, including her decline and tragic death.
Since Davis participated in the film any criticisms of him are mild. There is almost nothing about his personal life. And while some commentators say that Clive always had suggestions about changing the elements of a song (more drums, more vocal, etc.) there is no explanation of how he does this - I would like to no more about his instincts and how he interprets them. There is also nothing about how the music industry (including radio) changed over his career - he had a unique view being a key player for so long and probably has many interesting insights. But this film still gives quite a look at how one man - a lawyer with no aspirations towards the music business - was such a huge force in popular music for decades.
Contemporary Color (2016)
Hard working students failed by filmmakers
David Byrne's idea of mixing high school color guards (which do a lot more than wave flags these days) and contemporary musicians for a large concert has the potential to be a unique entertaining experience. But you don't get anywhere the full experience the way this film is shot and edited. One would expect that the performances would be the focus of the film, generally shown from a wide angle so the choreography of the entire team is featured. But these filmmakers don't seem very interested in that, they much prefer close-ups, and often of the singers, ignoring the performance team. During the performances they also cut in many backstage and preparation shots, with the music of the performance playing, as if to highlight the fact that you aren't seeing the what seemed to be the central point of the film. And plenty of shots of the audience, even some of the filming crew. For some of the groups less than a quarter of the performance is on-screen. There is more of the same between the groups and that is fine to add a feel for the event. Some of it is live interviews shown at the arena while the following group set up. Even during the finale when all 10 groups come on stage and do a short coordinated routine, the main shot is a close- up of David Byrne jumping up and down. Never do we see the panorama of all 10 groups in synchronization. This film can give you some feel of what the event was like. But if you want to see the actual performances as the audience did, particularly if you have some connection to one of the teams, this film won't do it. Maybe the DVD will have bonus sections of the actual performances.