I just got home from the world premiere screening of Amazing Grace, and I would not be surprised if it is soon included on lists of the very best concert films ever made. Not so much because of...
I just got home from the world premiere screening of Amazing Grace, and I would not be surprised if it is soon included on lists of the very best concert films ever made. Not so much because of the technical merits of the production (there is plenty of out-of-focus camera work, for example) but because it shows Aretha at her absolute peak, completely in her element alongside a titan of gospel music (James Cleveland), a huge choir and her amazing band (including Cornell Dupree, Chuck Rainey and Bernard Purdie) in a small but frenzied church. And the movie made me feel like I was there in that church with them. The visuals add so much new context to the Amazing Grace album. If it had been finished and released back in 1972 it would have been a classic.
The screening was a special event. We got an opening prayer from Al Sharpton, and after the movie we got a sermon from the Rev. William Barber and a q and a with the film's producers (including Aretha's niece Sabrina Owens). Also, Bernard Purdie (Aretha's drummer in the '70s) was in the audience and got a well-deserved standing ovation. What a night!
I just got home from the world premiere screening of Amazing Grace, and I would not be surprised if it is soon included on lists of the very best concert films ever made. Not so much because of the technical merits of the production (there is plenty of out-of-focus camera work, for example) but because it shows Aretha at her absolute peak, completely in her element alongside a titan of gospel music (James Cleveland), a huge choir and her amazing band (including Cornell Dupree, Chuck Rainey and Bernard Purdie) in a small but frenzied church. And the movie made me feel like I was there in that church with them. The visuals add so much new context to the Amazing Grace album. If it had been finished and released back in 1972 it would have been a classic.
The screening was a special event. We got an opening prayer from Al Sharpton, and after the movie we got a sermon from the Rev. William Barber and a q and a with the film's producers (including Aretha's niece Sabrina Owens). Also, Bernard Purdie (Aretha's drummer in the '70s) was in the audience and got a well-deserved standing ovation. What a night!