Heartbreaking doco elicits sympathy for troubled star
Whitney: Can I Be Me (M, 100 mins), directed by Nick Broomfield and Rudi Dolezal, ★★★★
Like 2015’s Amy, this is a documentary that shines a light on the dark shadows that haunted an amazing artiste.
Whitney Houston was found dead in a Beverly Hilton bathtub in February 2012.
Much has been written about what led to the tragic event and how much of it was a result of the record-breaking singer’s battle with her own demons, but what drew serial music-mentary maker Nick Broomfield (Kurt & Courtney, Biggie & Tupac) to her story was the belief she had a backstory that few members of the public knew.
And thanks to his usual powers of persuasion, dogged detective skills and the amazing discovery of never-seen-before footage from her 1999 tour of Europe, he delivers the enthralling tale of how ‘‘Nippy’’ from Newark, New Jersey, became America’s pop princess of the late1980s and early-1990s.
Fans of her music will delight in the tales of how Kevin Costner came up with THAT a capella opening for her biggest hit song, I Will Always Love You, while others will be fascinated by her own bodyguard’s revelation that the hit 1992 film was exactly like their own relationship – ‘‘except without the sex and shooting’’.
However, it’s the tension between her upbringing and her music career that elicits the most intrigue and sympathy.
Watching her booed while appearing on Soul Train or witnessing an out-take during a promotional interview, it’s hard not to see how easy it was for the singer who had more consecutive No.1s than The Beatles in the US to try to find solace in God, the selfconfessed bad boy of R’n’B Bobby Brown and drugs. A heartbreaking watch. – James Croot