George Michael: Portrait of an Artist

Poor documentary. It's rushed, it contains far too many talking heads giving biased information, and the production quality is poor. I think it's the 3rd chapter of the documentary, watch the titles appear on screen-they fade in and disappear quickly and then reappear quickly. How was this not seen in production?! Barely anything was mentioned about Princess Diana or music George wrote about his mother, no mention of his musical collaboration or friendship with Elton John, and absolutely nothing was mentioned about December Song.

George Michael is a musical legend and his story deserves a more thorough and respectable documentary to capture his talent. This documentary focused more on his downfall, caused by himself, and the ugly realities of his fall from grace. Too much was crammed in, and it felt more like a cheap VH1 or A&E TV documentary rather than something of a higher caliber.

Disappointing.

I'm am sorry, but how would a former manager know anything about George when he himself stated they had no deep conversations. All speculation on many of the troubles we knew about. Watch Freedom Uncut. Listen to his last interview. That was his words, his feelings, not speculation. As I said we know of his problems and there is no new insight here because they did not know him. As for the ex, that person lost all credibility for reasons.

Unfortunately I believe the same person that made this is now acting like an expert on another star we recently lost.

If the person making this truly respected George Michael, love his music, and keep speculation out, We know of his troubles, he had enough press harrassing him in life. He does not need it now.

The reality of this "documentary" is that it is in a lot of respects lazy like most documentaries these days. They are just outsiders and fringe people giving one on one quotes that don't really involve the person. The really thing that irked me was that he was like Bill Gates and wanted to give away all of the money that he earned. He is not like Bill Gates. Bill Gates isn't giving away any of his money, he's established a not for profit that will hold all of his money and grow it. That is what is whole third world country "health" business is about, growing his business and wealth for future generations. 10 Billion invested into vaccines turned into 200 Billion. Bill Gates is not giving away anything.

I was a young guy when Wham took off, and the George Michaels solo career followed.

This documentary tells the George Michaels journey from would be pop star into a well respected and extremely talented solo performer.

George starts off his musical career as a teenager full of hopes of conquering the world of pop music. Along with his best friend Andrew Ridgeley, Wham is formed and they explode onto the scene. Slowly but surely the star quality of George starts to burn bright.

Over the years, George turns from a bright eyed enthusiastic pop star into a cynical performer, who seems to be at odds against himself as a reluctant celebrity under the scrutiny of the media. There are insights into his family life and partners.

The story telling is relevant and good in this documentary. They could have touched more on his relationship with Andrew Ridgeley, and also his death was never clearly discussed.

I liked the Wham documentary better, but this is still good, particularly if your a George Michael fan.

Being the same vintage as George Michael, and knowing about the music that was the soundtrack to my young adulthood, I expected to like this trip down memory lane.

But it was very much more than that. It was a look at the backstory that explained everything about the arc of George's life and career, and the darkness you could always tell was around the edges.

I had forgotten how influential his coming out was. And I was unaware of his deliberate political provocations. I was also completely unaware of this philanthropic nature and the deliberateness of that as well.

I'm sorry that the demons won that battle for his existence--he's someone we could really count on right now in our current battles with the other demons that have been unleashed lately.

I am going to be thinking about this for a long time. It's not a story I'll be able to shake off. I'm glad I watched.