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‘Luther: Never Too Much’ Review: Doc Explores the Thick and Thin of a Soul Legend’s Legacy
Dawn Taylor's documentary explores the career, life and legacy of R&B luminary Luther Vandross.
Drawn largely from interview and performance footage of Vandross over his almost 40 years in entertainment, and bolstered and contextualized by retrospective talks will collaborators and confidantes, director Dawn Porter’s film exposes some uneasy truths about the music industry and the media we may now know, but whose seeming ubiquitousness at the time he was alive may be difficult to fully comprehend. Yet he began his career on projects with exactly the kind of broad appeal to which he wasn’t later granted access: performing on “Sesame Street,” singing and arranging vocals on David Bowie’s “Young Americans” album and crafting advertising jingles for products such as Miller High Life and Juicy Fruit gum. The film is measured in its treatment of his much-speculated-about sexuality — undoubtedly one of the bombshells many viewers might have hoped to come away with — and interviews with those who knew him, including Valerie Simpson, bass player Marcus Miller and songwriting collaborator Richard Marx, make respectful rather than revelatory disclosures.
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