Amazing Grace
Composite Score: 85.67
Featuring: Aretha Franklin, James Cleveland, Alexander Hamilton, Cornell Dupree, Kenny Luper, Poncho Morales, Bernard Pretty Purdie, Chuck Rainey, and C.L. Franklin
Directors: Alan Elliott and Sydney Pollack
Genres: Documentary, Music, Gospel
MPAA Rating: G
Box Office: $7.80 million worldwide
Why should you Watch This Film?
Amazing Grace is the 2018 realization by Alan Elliott of Sydney Pollack’s concert film about the recording of Aretha Franklin’s live album of the same name. The film showcases the two-night event at the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in the Watts region of Los Angeles where Franklin, joined by her band and the Southern California Community Choir, directed by Alexander Hamilton, performed and recorded the double platinum album, which remains the best selling of her discography and in the history of gospel music. For Franklin’s amazing performances, Pollack’s brilliant footage, and the excellent restoration done by Elliott and his team, the film has received much critical acclaim, celebrating particularly its ability to capture the talent and charisma of the iconic musician.
Why shouldn’t you Watch This Film?
Amazing Grace is a concert film plain and simple, so if you’re in the mood for a fantastic Aretha Franklin concert experience at home, then you’re going to be thrilled with the opportunity that it presents. If you want to put on this whole album in the background while you get some work done around the house and want some occasional visual stimulation to go along with it, this is probably also your cup of tea. Otherwise, the film doesn’t offer a whole lot in terms of challenging or enriching content to engage its audience on a universal basis. Your enjoyment of this film is going to depend entirely on your desire to hear Franklin’s music in the immediate moment. If you do, it’s a winner. If you don’t, it’s probably not worth checking out just yet.
So wait, why should you Watch This Film?
As you may have intuited from my above comments, Aretha Franklin is the reason to watch Amazing Grace. Yes, it’s cool to see archival footage restored to watchability from a great directorial talent in Sydney Pollack, but the true triumph of this film comes in the form of Franklin’s performance. Anyone who questions the legend’s talent needs only to turn on this film and watch the first ten minutes to be converted into an instant believer. Her ability to sing, her capability as a worshiper, her talent as an entertainer, and the way that she can direct the actions of an audience are all on full display, and it’s brilliant to watch in action. This is a level of performative excellence that we rarely see in modern performances. Beyoncé is phenomenal in her Coachella performance on Netflix (and I assume also in Renaissance), and Taylor Swift is in full mastery of the concert experience in The Eras Tour, but Franklin’s ability to take a crowd of a few hundred in a small church in Watts and make it feel like the biggest worship service you’ve ever witnessed speaks to a level of talent that inspired these amazing performers who have come since. You don’t get these other phenomenal, artist-curated concert experiences without Franklin’s insistence on performing her own music in her own way at the venue of her choice, and it’s a truly rewarding experience to get to see it brought to the screen in its original form.
Aretha Franklin’s enrapturing performance takes the audience to church while showcasing her formidable abilities as one of the greatest musicians and vocalists of all time in this classic take on a new “concert” film, earning Amazing Grace a place among the Greatest Films of All Time. Personally, I’d recommend this for a time when you really want to watch a concert film and/or have a hankering for some Aretha Franklin because that makes the viewing experience so much more impactful. You can currently stream this film via Max if you’re in the mood for some of that in the coming days.
