Jon Morgan

Little Richard was a musical genius and cultural icon. He was long overdue an authoritative documentary and career overview. Lisa Cortes’ film unfortunately is anything but definitive and a wasted opportunity. Richard’s sexuality is an important part of his legacy, but it seems here that Cortes had an agenda to make this the film’s main focus. His artistry to a certain extent is sidelined. There’s no in-depth look at how he created the music and no deep analysis of his musical roots and background. His musical output is brushed over with frivolous fast edited montages and rapid archival interviews clips. On top of that, there are interspersed performances by contemporary artists interpreting his musical catalogue, which distracts from the focus of the narrative. Little Richard deserves better. Disappointing.