DreamGirls (movie review)

Global rating of the product:3.5 stars
There is a huge difference between daydreaming and actually living your dreams: to live your dreams, it is essential to take some action, to have some soul and to spice up your life with some passion.
Dream Girls is an interesting movie I came across recently. If you are passionate about black music, curious about tyhe music industry and recognize yourself as a Motown sound fan, this movie is definitely for you. Not only does it offer a wide range of vocally rich, musical samples that will definitely talk to your soul, the movie also opens up on a realistic glance about the other side of the mirror: the cruel world of the music industry gets depicted the way it actually is. Business often puts real talent in jeopardy.
Beyonce Knowles and Jamie Foxx are starringas Deanna and Curtis. Three teenage girls from Detroit who are calling themselves the ” Dreamettes” want to make it to the top. Despite their hard work and the help of a talented songwriter, the trio is facing adversity. Their destiny will take a different turn when they meet Jimmy Early (played by Eddie Murphy) who actually needs some backsingers for his current tour.
Backsingers? What a disappointment for our ambitious female singers who are dreaming of a successful superstar’s life. But Jimmy promises to give them a major role as soon as the opportunity strikes. Jimmy Early posesses the genuine qualities you’d expect from a soul singer: he has heart, possesses deep and wide vocal chords, moreover he is rich of an upbeat dynamism on stage that wouldn’t leave anybody indifferent.
The D town of the sixties is still struggling with racial prejudice. At this time, climbing the charts as a black artist was ten times harder as for an equally talented white artist. Copyright infringement laws weren’t as precise as they are now, so it often happenned that a track was stolen. Jimmy Early’s Cadillac song (just after its brillianrt start in the radio charts) suddenly appeared in a weakened, modified, yet successful song stolen by some white artist. Curtis, who acts as the manager, fires back by reinjecting money into his business. To do so, he had to sell all his Cadillac cars.
One can only sympathise with Effie’s cause. How could one not feel angry in front of such an amazing talent getting lost for the business’ greedy purposes? But if you are familiar with the music industry, you will probably know that this is the way it actually works: managers often give preference to average talents that are capable to please a manipulated mainstream public than promoting an outstanding and original artist. Even when some of them make a definite choice in favor of the talented artist, in the end they will shape him into a mainstream pleasing puppet.
The movie is fulfilled with some good soul music that will put you into very good spirits. If you love swinging music amnd heartfelt artists with brilliant on stage performances, go watch the movie!
Copyright by Isabelle Esling
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