Jennifer Hudson is G-R-E-A-T in Aretha Franklin biopic "Respect"

Respect (2021)

There’s always going to be a case of “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” when telling the story of an influential person’s life. Unless there’s enough material for a TV series, decisions always need to be made on what is included and what is omitted. Clearly taking true moments from its subject’s life, an Aretha Franklin biopic like “Respect” is not as rigidly formulaic as it might have been. Rather, for a picture that wants to capture the essence and inimitable voice of the crowned Queen of Soul, it manages to do her life and legacy justice. It’s also hard to imagine any performer other than Jennifer Hudson being up to the task of not only inhabiting Ms. Franklin but actually performing her songs with close bravura. 

The film starts with Aretha’s childhood in 1952, Detroit, and finishes with her recorded “Amazing Grace” album in 1972 at Los Angeles’ New Temple Missionary Baptist Church. Skye Dakota Turner is very good as young Aretha, setting the groundwork before the superstardom comes. Living with her domineering preacher father, Reverend C.F. Franklin (Forest Whitaker), Aretha was exuberant and only 10, but her gift—“a voice going on 30”—would regularly have her woken up by her Daddy to sing like a show pony at his Saturday night soirées. One of those parties would leave little Aretha with unspoken trauma that would follow her for the rest of her life, not to mention the loss of her vocally talented mother (Audra McDonald, moving). In a 360-degree pan in a church, Aretha grows up and Jennifer Hudson takes over. She is soft-spoken but wants to use her voice to spread equality and march from town to town with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (Gilbert Glenn Brown), her uncle of sorts, against her father’s wishes. Throughout her career, Aretha’s vocal talents would help her find deals with Columbia Records (and then Atlantic Records), making her crave hits. But her voice is also what would help her assert herself and finally stand up to her father and future husband and manager Ted White (Marlon Wayans). With her rise to stardom, though, comes rocking with personal pain and demons. 

Jennifer Hudson has come such a long way from her Oscar-winning breakthrough role as Effie White in the 2006 Broadway musical adaptation “Dreamgirls” to playing Aretha Franklin, a role she was clearly born to play. Endorsed by the real Franklin herself before passing away in 2018, Hudson is undeniably the number-one reason to see “Respect”—she is commanding and G-R-E-A-T—and the film around her is respectful without being hagiographical. For those who have seen their share of biopics and music-based dramas—“What’s Love Got to Do with It,” “Ray,” “Dreamgirls,” “Sparkle,” and “Get On Up,” just to name a few—one could assume that “Respect” will be clichéd and melodramatic, but that isn’t the case here. While director Liesel Tommy (making her feature debut after helming single episodes for several TV shows) may take a workmanlike approach, she seems to trust her actors so much as to let their impassioned performances and the electric music speak for themselves. To her credit, too, Tommy’s recreation of the ‘50s, ‘60s, and ’70s feels lived-in with terrific work from the costume, hair and makeup departments, and there’s a clever use of film stock. Also, Kris Bowers’ music score is so minimalist that any non-diegetic music is rarely noticed to tell us how to feel.

The supporting cast isn’t exactly slacking off, either. Forest Whitaker brings out warts and all of Rev. Franklin. Kimberly Scott is wonderful as Aretha’s supportive grandmother, who seems to defy age throughout the years. Marlon Wayans manages to lose all trace of comedic baggage as charismatic yet volatile and toxic smooth operator Ted White. In much tinier roles, comedian Marc Maron still makes an impression as record producer Jerry Wexler, and Mary J. Blige gives some dynamite encouragement as diva singer Dinah Washington.

“Respect” does meander a bit on the surface, sometimes leaving gaps between certain years and leaving one to wonder when Aretha had those other children and what her relationship is like with them. The script by Tracey Scott Wilson (TV’s “Fosse/Verdon”) can be too broad and episodic, like a “Greatest Hits” of the big moments, when more of a deeper focus might have strengthened the film. It does, however, feel understated and unflinching in places under Tommy’s direction for depictions of sexual trauma, domestic abuse, alcoholism, and Civil Rights activism when so many biopics have taken the opposite approach. The film also still dares to at least acknowledge Aretha’s “demons” without coming across as exploitative. Even a scene where a drunk Aretha, joined by sisters Erma (Saycon Sengbloh) and Carolyn (Hailey Kilgore) at the piano, rearranges the titular Otis Redding song late one night is one of the more exciting “origins” of a song in a music biopic. What you want? Baby, Hudson has got it.

Grade: B

United Artists Releasing is releasing “Respect” (145 min.) in theaters on August 13, 2021.