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Respect
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02:25
Respect
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- 2020
- Liesl Tommy
- 145 mins
- 12A
Summary
Musical biopic starring Jennifer Hudson. Blessed with a remarkable voice, pastor's daughter Aretha Franklin grows up singing at home in Detroit. Her father is determined to control her path to a career in music, but Aretha has to forge her own path, overcoming public and personal demons on a journey to find her own voice and earn her crown as the Queen of Soul.
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Review
A star rating of 3 out of 5.
Terry Staunton
Jennifer Hudson was Aretha Franklin's own choice to play her in this biopic of the soul legend's rise to fame. While she sparkles in the elaborately staged musical numbers, the dramatic telling of the singer's personal and professional struggles is sadly wrought with clichés. Conflicts with Franklin's puritanical preacher father (Forest Whitaker) and her controlling husband and manager (Marlon Wayans) are recounted with a frustrating lack of depth or detail, with neither actors' portrayals rising much above by-the-book cartoon villainy. The chronicles of alcoholism, racial prejudice and abuse (both in Aretha's childhood and her marriage) should be where the film digs deep to reveal its subject's personality. But in her feature debut, theatre director Liesl Tommy fares best when bringing the music to life. Hudson's recreation of Franklin's extraordinary vocal talent is truly impressive, not least in the concert sequences and scenes where she assembles the building blocks of hits like the title song and I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You). It's just a shame that the rest of the film doesn't reach those same heady heights.
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6.6/10
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Credits
Cast
rolenameAretha FranklinJennifer HudsonCL FranklinForest WhitakerTed WhiteMarlon WayansBarbara FranklinAudra McDonaldDinah WashingtonMary J BligeJerry WexlerMarc MaronReverend Dr James ClevelandTituss BurgessJohn HammondTate Donovan
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Crew
rolenameDirectorLiesl Tommy
Details
Theatrical distributor
Universal
Released on
2021-09-10
Languages
English
Guidance
swearing, discriminatory language
Formats
Colour
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