Whitney — the only officially authorized documentary about the late pop diva Whitney Houston — opens in Taiwan this week to commemorate the singer’s 55th birthday yesterday. The documentary has received much praise since its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in May, and comes highly recommended by Houston’s good friends such as US talk show queen Oprah Winfrey.
Unlike previous, unauthorized documentaries about Houston, Oscar-winning director Kevin Macdonald interviewed more than 70 people for this film over the course of almost two years, including her family members and mentor, record producer Clive Davis. In addition to documenting her successful singing career, Macdonald says the film also captures Houston behind the scenes, hoping to bring the real Whitney to the audience.
Houston has been acclaimed as one of the greatest pop singers, and the only artist with seven consecutive US number ones. According to Guinness World Records, she is the most awarded female artist of all time, winning over 400 music awards before she died in 2012 at the age of 48.
Photo courtesy of Vievision Pictures
照片︰威視電影
(Eddy Chang, Taipei Times)
已故流行天后惠妮休斯頓唯一的官方認證紀錄片《永遠愛你，惠妮！》本週在台灣上映，以紀念她昨日五十五歲的冥誕。該片自五月在坎城影展舉行世界首映後，便獲得各界好評。而天后的好友們，例如美國脫口秀女王歐普拉溫芙瑞也強力推薦。
和之前未授權紀錄片不同的是，該片的奧斯卡名導凱文麥唐納在將近兩年的拍攝過程中，訪談了超過七十人，包括惠妮的家人和恩師、唱片製作人克萊夫戴維斯。除了紀錄其輝煌的歌唱生涯，麥唐納說該片補捉到了她在舞台下的一面，希望能呈現給觀眾最真實的惠妮。
惠妮被譽為最偉大的流行歌手之一，也是唯一曾連續得到七首美國冠軍單曲的藝人，還是「金氏世界紀錄」認證史上獲獎最多的女藝人，生前榮獲超過四百多座音樂獎。她於二○一二年猝逝，年僅四十八歲。
（台北時報張聖恩）
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