"Whitney"--a documentary film review

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It looks like 2018 is a documentary summer with one about Supreme court Justice Ginsberg, another about children’s host Fred Rogers, this past week one telling the story of Whitney Houston and this coming Friday the story of triplets separated at birth that discover each other 19 years later. I, generally, don’t go to see a documentary film in the theatre but due to ‘improvements’ being made to my apartment I’ve had to get out a few hours and what better way, whether hot and humid or raining, than going to a a/c movie theatre!?! I admired Whitney Houston’s voice, though at times I felt she was screaming too much and after hearing “I Will Always Love You” for the 4th million time (you couldn’t escape it!) I sort of tuned her out. In “Whitney” we hear from/about her brothers, mother, father, relatives plus several from the music and movie industry as the documentary director Kevin Macdonald sort of tilts the story to get the audience to feel sorry for this woman who had everything and lost it all, an old entertainment story. On one side it is said, and shown, to have had an idyllic childhood while on the other hand At one point Houston signed a $100 million contract only a few years later having to make a movie because she was broke. How much her marriage to Bobby Brown was related to her drugs problems, though it seems she started to go grass and cocaine at 16, is sort of dismissed because he was jealous of her and though not proven it seems one of her aunts sexually abused her when she was a child plus she had a long affair with her best friend and assistant Robyn Crawford. Whitney Houston is seen hitting bottom and she does just as we see her at the height of her success and she shows what made her a major talent. “Whitney” is a must see for her true fans and a wait until it is on television for others. Trailer