Directed By Bao Nguyen

Starring – Lionel Richie, Bruce Springsteen, Huey Lewis

The Plot – On January 25th, 1985, dozens of the era’s most popular musicians gathered in Los Angeles to record a charity single for African famine relief. Setting egos aside, they collaborated on a song that would make music history.

Rated TV-MA

The Greatest Night in Pop | Official Trailer | Netflix (youtube.com)

POSITIVES

Documentaries about celebrities or specific artists typically feel like puff pieces for their respective brands, but there’s an unapologetic emphasis towards Nguyen’s unlocking that taps into these compelling truths, leading to an iconic staging between the biggest pop stars in the world for 1985 that feels like combustible ingredients under one claustrophobic room set to stir. Most of the appeal here is certainly in the abundance of fly-on-the-wall archival footage, which not only seems to place the camera in the right places during key moments of the night in question, but also edited brilliantly in ways that brings to life some of these deceased figures from other interviews, to make them feel like a vital part of the production for this documentary. Without visualizing some of the words that are being heard overhead from one corresponding visual to the next, the film’s creative think tank can wisely tap into any interview given from the artist throughout time, in order to make it seem like their perspective was given for the project, all without it feeling jarring or distracting with visual evidence that obviously would spoil how outdated the accommodating interview footage was. Between the process of assembling so many big names together for one night, Lionel’s iron man march from hosting the American Music Awards to steering this monumental collaboration, and all of the wacky unforeseen hijinks of what developes between so many bizarre and diverse personalities, the project’s emphasis towards coming together for a common goal permeates to many passing hours of problematic takes, leading to internal confrontations and even spontaneous walk-outs that almost condemned the project dead on arrival. In seeing how the gears turn internally, there really is a greater sense of appreciation for what these artists were able to accomplish, giving way to other generational collaborations for tragedies such as the AIDS epidemic and even 9/11, which feels possible because of the work put together by Richie, Michael Jackson, Quincy Jones and Stevie Wonder, who basically shouldered the enormous responsibility of constructing such a monumental concept. Refreshing enough, the collaboration does eventually break down to feeling like a high school graduation, where classmates, or artists in this case, begin asking each other for autographs, all in a manner to commemorate this special night that they each knew was going to be huge. It adds a stripped down and humanistic refreshment to their imposing statures, in turn allowing us the rare opportunity to see them in the light of fans, which will inevitably make up a majority of this movie’s audience. On top of this, the film is a pungently permeating scope into the important year that was 1985, both in the obvious musical and chart-topping trends that make up so much of the establishing first act background of the film’s set-up, but also in the responsibility of zeroing in on why USA for Africa was put together in the first place, with a vital importance thrust upon African starvation, which was unfortunately prominent for the time. Because so many iconic artists came together for a common cause, it proves that celebrities do play an important role in utilizing focus in ways that politicians and other vital figures can’t attain, speaking a prophetic emphasis of sorts towards today’s social landscape, in which many athletes have been criticized for similar social stances that they view as important, but citizens shove off as being purely political. This makes the project so much more than just a one-off dream team meet up, bringing with it an element of urgency that makes the already tense race against the clock all the more impactful, especially considering it’s bringing eyes to a country that was otherwise suffering from a lack of public focus for the time. Lastly, I think above all else the film constructs an appreciation for music producing that very few documentaries capably articulate, with meaning in the magic for Jones’ capabilities that value it as such a nearly impossible undertaking. Aside from the impossible assembly of these artists on the same night, it’s steering these important figures who are used to certain treatments, editing sections together, and overcoming technical snafus that are most impressive to what Jones was able to attain, speaking volumes about his stoic composure as a legendary producer, which only could’ve been reached by one irreplacable figure to the project and the music industry as a whole.

NEGATIVES

For a brief 92 minute run time, it’s inevitable that some sections of the narrative will receive less focus than others, and while the film does a great job of utilizing the set-ups of the particular time frame and timultous trysts of undertaking such a stand against African starvation, the epilogue of the picture feels a bit underwhelming, especially in articulating the well-documented difficulties of transferring the money to Africa, as a result of a broken political link of communication between the dual countries. While keeping the positivity of the production was probably the intended purpose of Bao’s immersive production, I feel like it dramatically undercuts the magnitude and scope of the story, leaving the accomplishments of the artists strained by elements out of their control that smother possibilities. To make a long story short, the 68 million dollars raised eventually did find its way to Africa, as highlighted during the movie’s closing narration, but not without drawn out strain that probably cost many more their lives, and in my opinion the call to command could’ve conjured towards political figures just as much as it did the musicians that make up this project. In addition to this, my only other issue with the film pertained to Nguyen’s lack of flare for the presentation, which undercut his capabilities as a constructing force to a project of this magnitude. While I do appreciate that he seems to be one of those documentarian directors who lets the story speak for itself, I do wish that he exerted some kind of unique influence towards either the transitions or the editing of the film, which even at 92 minutes will test the patience of the story structure, especially since the second and third act sections of the experience remain entirely in the confines of the claustrophobic studio. That’s not necessarily to say that the film needed some kind of distracting emphasis towards steering the story in directions that the stock footage simply couldn’t, but rather the engagement comes and goes in missing some undocumented ex-factor that ultimately keeps it from reaching the next level of exceptional documentaries, leaving it perfect as a one-time watch, but nothing more.

OVERALL
“The Greatest Night in Pop” is a sort of masturbatory self-fulfilling look into music history, as told by those who lived it, but it’s none the less a fascinating study of pop star unity, once all of the ego’s, gimmicks, and agents are stripped away to bring purpose and urgency towards a suffering nation. While the film is entertaining enough in its fly-on-the-wall perspective, which unearths many hilarious and even unfortunate truths with those assembled, its timing of release is most appreciative during an age where celebrity participation is dramatically undervalued, transporting us to a simpler time when a moonwalker, a commadore, a blind pianist and a masterful producer changed the world for the better.

My Grade: 7/10 or B