Lisa Cortes on LITTLE RICHARD: I AM EVERYTHING, Cultural Appropriation and the Legacy of Genius – Nikki Fowler interviews

Filmmaker Lisa Cortes’ brilliant biodoc Little Richard: I Am Everything, took years to make, but film is now on the fast track to public view — and to reminding music lovers about the legendary legacy of Richard Wayne Penniman, one of the music world’s most beloved pop culture icons. In her discussion with Nikki Fowler, Cortes shares her take on the life and career of Little Richard, the importance of memorializing one of the world’s most important and resonant creative geniuses, and the process of bringing his biodoc to the screen.

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LITTLE RICHARD: I AM EVERYTHING – Review by Nikki Fowler

Credit documentary film producer/director Lisa Cortes with brilliantly comprehensive and entertaining biodoc about music maker and pop cultural icon Richard Wayne Penniman, otherwise known as Little Richard, who was rarely credited during his lifetime for the enormous influence he had on global artistry and and social trends. Throughout most of his lifetime, Richard was not compensated fairly for his work, nor was he presented with awards that recognized his impact on music and worldwide culture. But, Cortes’ beautifully tantalizing and magical biodoc and tribute film about his life, replete with wonderful archival footage of Richard on and off stage, is like a long-awaited huge bouquet of flowers for the master music maker. You do not want to miss Little Richard: I Am Everything.

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THE LOST WEEKEND: A LOVE STORY – Review by Nikki Fowler

The Lost Weekend: A Love Story was an interesting but a bit of a tough watch, yet May Pang deserves to tell her story as the lover of global superstar John Lennon who was at the time married to his second wife, Yoko Ono. Pang’s side of the story is narrated throughout the docufilm as she chronicles her 18-month relationship with the star before he abruptly just never comes back to their apartment and ends up returning to Ono for a sum of five years with their son before his untimely murder.

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THE LOST WEEKEND: A LOVE STORY – Review by Loren King

It was much more than a weekend. The Lost Weekend: A Love Story is May Pang’s record-straightening personal account of her 18-month-long romance with John Lennon while he was separated from Yoko Ono. It’s a fascinating immersion in the early 1970s when Pang, a New York native and music fan, went from working at Apple Records at age 19 to being asked to be John and Yoko’s personal assistant. Engaging and seemingly forthright, Pang recounts witnessing arguments and Ono’s controlling behavior such as instructing Pang not to forward calls from Lennon’s estranged young son, Julian, who is also interviewed in the film.

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MOVIE OF THE WEEK April 7, 2023: THE LOST WEEKEND: A LOVE STORY

Sex, drugs, rock ‘n’ roll — they’re all present in The Lost Weekend: A Love Story, the revelatory documentary from filmmakers Eve Brandstein, Richard Kaufman, and Stuart Samuels, about former music executive May Pang’s experiences with John Lennon and Yoko Ono in the 1970s. But this isn’t a salacious, Behind the Music-style expose. Rather, it’s a thoughtful, loving reminiscence about the formative role the relationship played in Pang’s life – and its lasting impact.

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