Whitney’ Review

Rating: [rating=4]
Release date: OUT NOW in cinemas

Kevin Macdonald’s ‘Whitney’ is a powerful exploration of the rise and fall of one of pop music’s greatest icons and a perfectly timed cautionary tale about the trappings of fame.

To call Whitney Houston a phenomenon is truly an understatement. As this film shows over and over again, she meant different things to many people – forever Cissy Houston’s daughter to some, ‘The Voice’ to her fans, Nippy to her loved ones. What they all agree on is her extraordinary talent, a gifted songstress in equal parts soulful, captivating and unforgettable.

Whitney charts its title figure’s meteoric rise to fame and fortune, moving from her humble origins (albeit at the centre of an accomplished musical family) to becoming one of the most recognisable stars on the planet. Her trailblazing career was littered with landmarks, shattered records, a saddlebag of awards and a music catalogue that is instantly recognisable and adored around the world.

But of course, we know how this story ends. Six years on from when it first snatched headlines across the globe, the shadow of Houston’s untimely death hangs over this film. What was it that led her on her path to destruction? That’s the question at the heart of Oscar-winning director Kevin Macdonald’s documentary, as it weaves together familiar footage and new material to make us question everything we thought we knew about Whitney.

So ingrained is Houston’s stamp on popular culture that it feels strange to accept that her stardom might never have happened. As the film reveals, her path to world domination was anything but a done deal –rather it was the result of years of persistence, fortunate timing and dogged determination. Whitney does a good job of putting you in the mindset of its central figure from early on. Archive material from the 80s and 90s depicts the rise of her career set against an America at war with itself – and a sense that her music provided a refuge for people in a country tearing itself apart.

As well as being an interesting character study, Whitney also works well as a witty, sometimes sobering criticism of celeb culture, revealing the mania and hysteria of stardom, as well as the terrifying consequences. Fame is like a drug, the film seems to suggest – and we’re there to witness the comedown as Houston’s later years often saw her ridiculed in the press. The press and media humiliation on the show are some of Whitney’s most unsettling scenes. After seeing her at her most vulnerable, we feel close to her, protective of her. Suddenly all those primetime TV jokes feel like a personal betrayal.

There are also plenty of interviews on offer, as family members, friends and music moguls all weigh in on who was responsible for Houston’s highs (and lows). It’s about two-thirds of the way through that the film’s biggest bombshell hits, a staggering revelation that suggests what might have haunted her internal world and led to her unfortunate fate.

Does the film bring us closer to discovering who the real Whitney was? Not exactly, but perhaps it never could have done. Macdonald has spliced together a dizzying array of snapshots that reveal the hidden joys and heartache of Houston’s life. The result is moving, if imperfect, much like its tragic heroine.

Alex Straker

Documentary, Music, Biography | UK, 2018 | 15 | 6th July 2018 (UK) | Altitude Films | Dir.Kevin MacDonald | Whitney Houston, Bobbi Kristina Brown, Bobby Brown

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Alex Straker

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