Berlin Review: ‘Love To Love You, Donna Summer’ Offers Moving Portrait Of Brilliant Singer Who Struggled With Fame And Faith
deadline.comDonna Summer could hit notes more thrillingly beautiful than any other pop singer of her time, or since. I’m not sure even Whitney Houston, as great as she was, quite reached the glistening heights that culminate “Last Dance” (though she comes very close in “I Will Always Love You”).
Mariah Carey (no relation to me) performs impressive vocal acrobatics, yet to my ear she can’t match the bell-like shimmer of Donna in the higher registers.
And Donna in the lower registers – well, the voice thrums with visceral resonance. In the documentary Love to Love You, Donna Summer, making its world premiere today at the Berlin Film Festival, we get to revel in that voice.
But directors Roger Ross Williams and Brooklyn Sudano – Donna’s daughter – don’t aim for a jukebox music experience, content to press play on one hit after another.
Read more on deadline.com
