A feature-length documentary about the multi-platinum R&B singer does justice to his talents and tactfully handles the issue of his sexuality
All of the mystery and certainty of love is carried in Luther Vandross’s radiant singing voice. On uptempo tracks he seems suffused with joy; on ballads he’s less sure, singing melodies that search high and low but still with hope in his heart. Those performances, and the complex life that informed them, are rightly given a feature-length canvas in this documentary by Dawn Porter, a US film-maker known for her studies of presidents, lawmakers and social movements, here making a rare foray into pop culture.
Porter rolls out an unbroken chronology of Vandross’s life, juxtaposing archive material with contemporary talking heads. That traditional approach is validated by both kinds of footage: old Vandross performances and interviews have been expertly filleted, while the talking heads are well-chosen, with A-listers such as Mariah Carey, Dionne Warwick and Jamie Foxx spritzing stardust between close friends, repeat collaborators and family members. The traditional framework also seems to acknowledge that Vandross was a cipher to many people, in need of someone to clearly tell a story he often obscured within himself.