Director Liesl Tommy, using a screenplay
by Tracey Scott Wilson, offers a series of
chronological vignettes to try to explain what
fed Franklin, a preacher’s daughter from Detroit
who would light up the world with her voice.
“Music will save your life,” is the Hallmark-like
slogan used in the film — uttered by a soulful
Tituss Burgess as the Rev. James Cleveland.
But that’s not hefty enough to explain how a
woman who endured rape, domestic violence,
racism, misogyny, mental health challenges
and addiction could go on to win 18 Grammys.
Music will save your life? That may work for
Nickelodeon. You need more here.
The script by Tracey Scott Wilson (“Fosse/
Verdon”) is a collection of scenes that don’t
add up to much, never really building and
interrupted — by necessity, of course — with
overly long music sequences. This film needed
someone to sharpen and clarify. It needed what
Franklin was, an ideal interpreter.
Even Tommy herself seems to get a little
bored by the end when she starts fussing
with black-and-white film and old lenses,
recreating TV interviews and even mixing in
real news footage from the ’60s. She even
pops up in her own movie — as a fan seeking
reassurance from Franklin — like a fangirl
Alfred Hitchcock.
It’s telling that many of the smaller roles pop
more than the main event. Mary J. Blige, as a
tempestuous, table-tossing Dinah Washington,
gives the film an electric kick and Audra
McDonald as Franklin’s mother is precious and
understated, every second of their screen time
leaving you begging for more.