Sparkle

source: Sparkle

Trailer—Sparkle

Sparkle

It's 1958 Harlem. 15 year old Sparkle Williams (Irene Cara) falls for Stix (Philip M. Thomas). He becomes the manager of her and her two older sisters in a girl singing group. This has elements of blaxploitation. It has the sex and drugs. It's also a traditional music biopic construction. The music is downright old school. In the disco era, this must have stuck out like a sore thumb. It's basically a darker Dreamgirls. The filmmaking is a little lackluster. The director has most of his credits as an editor. That's really his day job while he dabbles in directing. The two leads are fine and they would go on to do bigger things. Irene Cara is a great singer along with the other characters. The side characters don't get much shine. They are mostly two dimensional roles. This doesn't have the flash to sparkle and it's not dark enough to be dangerous. It's somewhere in the middle and that's this movie. It's stuck in the middle.

The movie was actually a romantic drama based on three sisters who had desires to become a famous girl group. In their endeavors, the oldest sister meets a drug dealer and street hustler called Satin, whom Sister goes after because she believes he is the "big time" who will give her everything she ever thought she wanted out of life. Though he could be accused of killing her, he really kills only her spirit and will to live, after which she becomes a drug addict and ultimately dies from an overdose. The story isn't about the street life or the Italian mobster who tries to buy Stix off, then threatens him, it's about how love can overcome even the worst tragedies in life as portrayed in song and style and the character that was the life in the times for young women trying to be "discovered" back then.

This movie would be accurate if it had a revamp every 10yrs or less. When people realize how it's their OWN that keeps each other down, maybe the same old sad sickening story would change...and instead of being the rarity that breaks free, it could be something natural. No sadder more pathetic existence than when one has no idea who is the real enemy is. I think this movie is fantastic in all its twisted pain. Fantastic talent from the usual players who never seem to thank the right people in their DNA.

I loved beyond original movie. Great actors and really good music. I would like the know who sang the songs. I'm not talking about the aretha Franklin soundtrack. Who actually sang the songs in the movie.

Irene Cara gives a heartbreaking and uplifting performance as Sparkle. Great cast all around. Not the best cinematography, but I think it adds grit and authenticity to the piece. A must watch. Fantastic musical score by Curtis Mayfield. Absolute classic.

It was hard to watch this movie without a catalogue of other movies going through my head. Granted, this movie was made before the movies I was thinking of-- "What's Love Got to Do With It," "The Five Heartbeats," "Ray," and others--but I saw similar threads in them all. It seems, fictitious or not, every music story has a rise to fame, drug use by someone, and some type of tragedy. I probably view Sparkle through a different prism but it's hard for me to do that. It was a little fast paced in its build up but OK.

Standard rise to fame tale that has a few high points. Number one, Lonette McKee as Sister who gives a stunning, star making performance. The fact that she never became a huge sensation after this is beyond me. Sadly, she is a supporting character and we are forced to focus on Irena Carter's bland character, Sparkle, whose rise to fame is easy, boring, and unconvincing. However, whenever the girls go on stage and perform, the movie comes back to life. The original music by Curis Mayfield must be praised. The copy I saw was a very old VHS tape. The picture quality was pretty low, as well as the production values I'm guessing. All in all, its worth a gander.