Direction: Liesl Tommy
Country: USA
First-time director Liesl Tommy attempts to dig deep in a particular life period of the activist singer and Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin - impersonated here by Jennifer Hudson (The Secret Life of Bees, 2008; Dreamgirls, 2016) - but only scratches the surface. Working from a flimsy screenplay by Tracey Scott Wilson, the inexperienced director falls into common biopic traps in a a dislikable on-screen rendering of a significant life.
Spanning between the 1950s and 1970s, the film follows the rise of Aretha, from the days when she sang in the church and Saturday night parties led by her overbearing father (Forest Whitaker) to the international fame, surprisingly achieved with the backing of white musicians. Besides the musical aspect, the film focuses on the toxic relationships and traumatic situations that plagued her personal life.
The film sorely lacks in emotion, becoming a by-the-numbers musical biopic that is neither thought-provoking nor entertaining enough. Its innocuous and unimaginative storytelling, marked by rush-induced narrative gaps, would have led to even worse consequences if it weren’t for Hudson in the leading role and Marc Maron, who is fantastic as the enthusiastic Atlantic Records producer Jerry Wexler.
With a lot of razzle-dazzle and very little soul, Respect, which ends with footage of Aretha performing “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman” at the Kennedy Center in 2015, feels incomplete and never lives up to the diva’s life.
