LUTHER: NEVER TOO MUCH | Filmmaker Dawn Porter | Documentary
When I look at the covers of these albums I get a good, warm feeling in my heart. These were the songs I grew up on. My sister, LeVonne and I were Luther nutz! Seeing him in concert every time he stepped foot into Philly. We started being fans around the ages of 12 and 14. Even as a kid I realized my musical taste was rather mature, we loved the same artists Luther loved – Roberta Flack, Dionne Warwick, Stevie Wonder, Chaka Khan, Aretha. There’s nothing throwaway or bubble gum pop with these artists, and Luther had that same ability to create lasting, timeless music. As big a fan as I was/am, I can’t say I really knew much about his personal life. I mean it was always a question as to his being gay or straight, which is addressed in the doc. Philly’s own, Patti outs him, but his closest friends and collaborators, who he’d known since high school: Fonzi Thornton, Robin Clark, Carlos Alomar continue to respect his privacy on the matter. If he was gay, and most-likely he was, it’s even sadder that he didn’t live long enough to say F*ck it! I’m me and I love who I love. But I do understand that his main concern was how his mother would react. I feel like over half of my life decisions were based on what I thought my mother would say if I did this or that. Giving undo deference to a parent can keep you hovering low to the ground.
There’s plenty of performance clips, including when the NAACP Honored Dionne, and Luther serenaded her but good with “A House is Not A Home”. Niles Rodgers is interviewed, of course, is there a music doc that doesn’t call upon him to be a talking head? Another usual suspect is Music Journalist Danyel Smith, she’s funny when she talks about the difference between Motown and the Sound of Philly – “Motown is formality – we’re matching and in by midnight vs. Sound of Philly is come as you are and scream a bit”. Jamie Foxx is a producer of the film and provides his Luther vocal impressions. Jon Platt Chairman/CEO, Sony Music Publishing is interviewed along with Clive Davis and Mariah Carey.
How did I not know that Luther Vandross wrote “Can You See A Brand New Day” from The Wiz, what!?! And I either forgot or never knew about the devastating car accident that killed one of his close friends, which he pleaded guilty to vehicular manslaughter and just barely avoided prison time. That seemed truly a breaking point in his life, triggering the returning weight, as he always admitted to being an emotional eater. As would be expected, a good bit of the doc covers the struggles he had with yoyoing weight and diabetes. It’s hard to think of him without the thoughts of fat Luther vs. thin Luther? But Porter’s overall theme is to capture his musical talent and the career goals he met before leaving us all too soon.
This part is not in the doc. but I found out the Luther Vandross Foundation, which provides financial assistance to students attending Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), is managed by The Philadelphia Foundation!
Virtual Sundance attendance was truncated this year starting Jan 24-28th. Still, it’s a great way to start my film/movie year off on a good
