Review by lwgillan

I had been hoping to get my hands on this documentary ever since I learned of its existence almost a year ago. "A documentary? About Rufus? With live performances? No! Yes? Yes!" I checked movie rental stores (even specialty ones with big music sections!), libraries, etc., to try and get it cheap, all to no avail. Then I decided to buy it for my girlfriend for Valentine's Day, but no stores in my town had it in stock (Every Puccini opera ever filmed, in stock and ready to buy. Rufus? No). She didn't get the Rufus Wainwright documentary for Valentine's Day. I eventually gave in and ordered it from Amazon for her birthday. So by this time I had been expecting it to be just about the greatest film I had ever seen. I was expecting to watch it, and, coming out of my rapture, go home to my guitar where I would instantly write an album's worth of songs with all the melodious vocals, brutally honest, yet serenely poetic, lyrics, and unconventionally beautiful harmonic structures of Rufus' music.

This didn't happen.

The film was pretty good. Certain songs' meanings, of which I had no previous understanding, were clarified by Rufus himself. This was interesting. I would even say I appreciate his music more now.

However, one gets the feeling that the folks who compiled this film didn't exactly have all the juicy interview content they wanted and therefore filled out a lot of the movie's time with the same faces saying the same thing: "Rufus is the best. He is pop music's anointed savior. He is better than Elvis, The Beatles, and Public Enemy combined. He should be made king. Of pop music land." Or something along those lines. Gushy.

Still, however, recommended for Rufus fans.