I can't believe I never saw this side of Bette Midler before. I've seen her in movies and even seen/heard her sing here and there, but it's a strange thing to grow up from my generation/age group and mostly know her from the theme to Beaches (one of those Wedding songs that just makes me kind of neutral to eh) and see her on stage as this quasi Janis Joplin with a quasi Joe Cocker edge among other amalgamations (especially during "When a Man Loves a Woman" which in many other films would be the showstopping finale, here it's in the first half hour) is a kind of Revelation. In a way I'm getting the opposite experience of many audiences from the time who saw this in theaters - this was Midler's screen debut, holy God - and coming to it instead of seeing her fresh seeing an entirely new side to what I thought previously as frankly kind of a milquetoast performer and singer. Not here.
What's more remarkable about Midler than simply with her singing and stage presence, which is aptly as big as a few dozen towers, are those little moments she brings vulnerability into her volatile Rose; when she looks to be pleasantly in that space between being asleep and awake on a plane about midway through, look how she suddenly starts crying (not too much but enough) and it feels totally natural of the moment, that her Rose is simply unpredictable for when a piece of music or another person can touch her heart.
I know that's not what stands out the most about her performance persay, since she is most apt to go for AAAHHHH levels of yelling and energy levels (punctuated by cpiling back and going "I'm sorry" and then getting pissed again). But there are moments of sorrow, tenderness, quiet, that in their way punctuate those volcanic bouts of rage and desperation and need. This is a chronicle of a performer who is always on the edge of blowing up everything good around her, and where it ends up especially in those last thirty minutes takes this into a full tragedy, final concert included (paging Pink of the Wall).
This isn't exactly unique in the annals of Rock and Roll movies or movies about singers or whoever, but what absolute stands out are the performances from of course Midler (by the way one more note, her calls near the end in that phone booth to her manager and her mother, look what she isn't doing and holding back, just extraordinary), as well as Frédéric Forrest as the on-off-on-off lover, and he is remarkable for his reactions more than anything to her (ie the scene in the bars, a contrast early on and then latter when it became dark), Harry Dean Stanton in just one scene showing why he was a total treasure of an actor, and while he is saddled largely with a cliche even Alan Bates finds moments where he becomes interesting as that raging-screaming British rock manager.
How much you'll get out of it will depend how forgiving you may be to a movie that is like 80-85% Downfall Saga, where we are seeing someone at this point in a life where things are coming apart at the seams, but on the other hand that may be a refreshing thing about it. If you're going to just give the audience a story of a performer who is I'm a WHOLE HELL OF A LOT BUT LOOK AT ME ON STAGE! Then at least go for this energy and committed melodrama.
And on top of everything else is a theme that can't be ignored which is a woman being taken beyond her limits by men who are more concerned about contracts and money than mental health (in another level, think last year about the athletes in the Olympics who walked away because... can't do it). And I can't stress enough that if you are a Mlllennial coming to this fresh, you will walk away if nothing else looking at Bette Midler like "wow... rock God!"
One more flaw: needed more time with Rose with her band. 7.5/10.
What's more remarkable about Midler than simply with her singing and stage presence, which is aptly as big as a few dozen towers, are those little moments she brings vulnerability into her volatile Rose; when she looks to be pleasantly in that space between being asleep and awake on a plane about midway through, look how she suddenly starts crying (not too much but enough) and it feels totally natural of the moment, that her Rose is simply unpredictable for when a piece of music or another person can touch her heart.
I know that's not what stands out the most about her performance persay, since she is most apt to go for AAAHHHH levels of yelling and energy levels (punctuated by cpiling back and going "I'm sorry" and then getting pissed again). But there are moments of sorrow, tenderness, quiet, that in their way punctuate those volcanic bouts of rage and desperation and need. This is a chronicle of a performer who is always on the edge of blowing up everything good around her, and where it ends up especially in those last thirty minutes takes this into a full tragedy, final concert included (paging Pink of the Wall).
This isn't exactly unique in the annals of Rock and Roll movies or movies about singers or whoever, but what absolute stands out are the performances from of course Midler (by the way one more note, her calls near the end in that phone booth to her manager and her mother, look what she isn't doing and holding back, just extraordinary), as well as Frédéric Forrest as the on-off-on-off lover, and he is remarkable for his reactions more than anything to her (ie the scene in the bars, a contrast early on and then latter when it became dark), Harry Dean Stanton in just one scene showing why he was a total treasure of an actor, and while he is saddled largely with a cliche even Alan Bates finds moments where he becomes interesting as that raging-screaming British rock manager.
How much you'll get out of it will depend how forgiving you may be to a movie that is like 80-85% Downfall Saga, where we are seeing someone at this point in a life where things are coming apart at the seams, but on the other hand that may be a refreshing thing about it. If you're going to just give the audience a story of a performer who is I'm a WHOLE HELL OF A LOT BUT LOOK AT ME ON STAGE! Then at least go for this energy and committed melodrama.
And on top of everything else is a theme that can't be ignored which is a woman being taken beyond her limits by men who are more concerned about contracts and money than mental health (in another level, think last year about the athletes in the Olympics who walked away because... can't do it). And I can't stress enough that if you are a Mlllennial coming to this fresh, you will walk away if nothing else looking at Bette Midler like "wow... rock God!"
One more flaw: needed more time with Rose with her band. 7.5/10.