Whitney Houston: I want to dance with someone ★★½
BIOGRAPHY (2022)
Directed by Cassie Lemons
Cast: Naomi Aki, Stanley Tucci, Ashton Sanders.

The film biography of Whitney Houston hits theaters this week to fill them with songs from one of the greatest performers in the history of music. In Cassie Lemons’ film, Naomi Aki, who plays Houston from her early days in a local New Jersey choir until her untimely tragic death in 2012, takes on a difficult… mission. , a huge commercial success, but also personal problems and a fatal addiction to drugs. In the film, signed by Oscar nominee Anthony McCarten (Bohemian Rhapsody), we see a relatively “clean” version of the Houston story, leaving aside the many drugs and harsh imagery that would lead us to the darkest side of life. idol. Instead, there’s plenty of glitz, fame, and (often wasted) cash in an overall academic, lengthy biography that doesn’t surprise but manages to really move at certain points thanks to Naomi Aki’s dedicated performance.

Korean director Hong Sang-soo (“The Woman Who Gone”) received the Silver Bear – Grand Jury Prize at the last Berlin Film Festival for a lean, dialogic film that focuses on a microcosm of human relationships, old and new, that can often surprise The protagonist here is a writer of average years, which starts its walk from the bookstore, passes by the observation tower and the park to return to the starting point. Along the way, she meets a director and his wife and an actress and a young film student whom she convinces to make her first film.

Somehow, the film’s rudimentary plot unfolds through a series of successive vignettes during which the camera remains still, enclosing the main characters in its black-and-white frame. After all, the essence here is mainly related to the so-called, which include attraction between people (romantic or friendly), the process of artistic creation, fame, vanity, etc.

A cinematic portrait of one of the greatest painters in history, created with the help of an impressive cast. Riccardo Scamarzio is almost unrecognizable as Michelangelo Merisi or “Caravaggio”, a brash artist who has no hesitation in using prostitutes, thieves and the homeless as models for his religious paintings. When one of his endless fights results in him being sentenced to death, the Pope instructs a secret agent (Louis Garrel) to scrutinize his life to decide whether he should be granted a pardon. Skillfully adapting his photography to the colors and shadows of Caravaggio himself, Michele Placido creates an undeniably atmospheric biography that nevertheless suffers from a lack of pacing that in turn makes its two-hour runtime more uneconomical.

The wedding comedy subgenre opens a new chapter as Jennifer Lopez and Josh Duhamel prepare for their eternal vows of love in an exotic location. However, everything will turn upside down, and soon both they and their annoying families will become victims of a strange hostage situation.