Swift knows that her brand is "the nice girl", and that nice girls don't make waves or make people feel uncomfortable. Miss Americana opens with Taylor Swift looking through diaries she wrote when she was just 13 years old. Sure, there's plenty of behind-the-scenes footage of Swift working on her songs and being on stage, but the documentary isn't interested in engaging with a critical assessment of her pop songs or why Swift has succeeded where other singer-songwriters have failed, which is fine. Miss Americana becomes electric in its final act as Swift finally reaches a political awakening. Here is a young woman aware of her potential expiry date, ready to peel back her layers and tell the truth of the bigger picture, to finally write her own history. Katie Collins Jan. 31, 2020 3:25 p.m. PT Swift if not some record label product who can't think for herself. Memories of an eating disorder and political disagreements are laid bare, without frills, to outline what Swift was saying to herself when she went quiet to everyone else. Do the right thing. That she’s an artist who emerged during the birth of the Internet doesn’t necessarily make Swift unique. Cut to footage of her as a child starting out on her career and you see how the image she cultivated for herself lasted so long. The world's defining voice in music and pop culture since 1952. We're not her friends. Swift's awareness of her public persona and how she's perceived gives Miss Americana a low-hum of image management, which in turn makes you question the authenticity of Swift. Your review may be edited for content. Swift is far more careful in crafting her message, but she's willing to say it nonetheless. you've hit a dead-end because it does not matter. Lana Wilson's doc is engineered to appease her fans and promote … But Gaga: Five Foot Two went for Toronto rather than Sundance. Taylor Swift Really Wants You to Like Her in New Doc 'Miss Americana' By Esther Zuckerman. Please enter your birth date to watch this video: Enter. As the site's Chief Film Critic, he has authored hundreds of reviews and covered major film festivals including the Toronto International Film Festival and the Sundance Film Festival. Yet in “Miss Americana,” it’s the verite psychodrama of the personal and private Taylor Swift, cuddling up to the piano with her cat, that dominates. Not very. 0 /5000. If you're like me in this regard, you'll still find Lana Wilson's documentary Miss Americana a captivating watch as it uses Swift's story to explore a pop icon's political awakening and her complicated relationship with fame. But the second you start walking down the road of "Is Swift authentic or not?" One of the most meaningful themes in Miss Americana is the crucial lesson of learning to discard the idea that approval is valuable. There is no linking or other HTML allowed. A disclaimer for Taylor Swift fans who have stumbled upon this review: I am agnostic on Taylor Swift. Seemingly faced with a no-win situation, Swift fights to wrest back control by examining what's truly important to her. Miss Americana comes after the release of Swift’s seventh album Lover – a sweet, romantic record, marking a new era following the bitter defensiveness of its 2017 predecessor Reputation. Published on 1/24/2020 at 2:43 PM. Admitting that even now, as then, her life is guided by the need to be seen as good, is actually a little bit heartbreaking. Credit: Getty. Sparkles, spikes and all. Sundance Film Review: Taylor Swift Doc Miss Americana Probes the Loneliness of Fame Netflix's new doc charts the pop icon's life through fame, disgrace, and political resurrection Covering the hottest movie and TV topics that fans want. Detractors may point out that Miss Americana is Swift's way of having her cake and eating it too. What makes Swift a captivating central figure is that she's so articulate and self-aware of her status as a public figure, and yet that awareness turned out to be a double-edged sword. Like Miss Americana, this pop music doc premiered at a prestigious film festival just days before dropping on Netflix. Taylor Swift desperately wants people to like her. She knows that you don't rise through the ranks of country music by telling people what they don't want to hear, but what happens when you want to talk about more than breakup songs? We're not her family. If your review contains spoilers, please check the Spoiler box. For Swift and for Miss Americana, the drama is in Swift wrestling with her public persona and what it means to be a country-pop star who's been famous since she was a teenager. If you’re pressing play on the new Taylor Swift documentary, Miss Americana (out now on Netflix), with any hint of wariness, you’re not alone, and you're not too cynical. Miss Americana is now streaming on Netflix. Taylor Swift performs during her recent world tour. Perhaps, but I have no reason to not take Swift at her word because I, and I assume everyone reading this, are strangers to her. Matt Goldberg has been an editor with Collider since 2007. Interrupted acceptance speeches at awards ceremonies, secretly recorded phone calls, exile, revenge, rebirth; the country singer turned pop megastar has inspired enough dramatic headlines to easily populate an entertaining biopic like this one. Miss Americana provides an engaging if somewhat deliberately opaque backstage look at a pop star turned cultural phenomenon. The way to make a movie like this one started to shift around the time of Madonna’s “Truth or Dare,” which was, in fact, a splendid concert film, yet the most memorable aspect of it was the backstage soap opera of Madonna taking off her public mask only to … Read critic reviews You might also like Save Taylor Swift's documentary Miss Americana … For the first time, it feels like Taylor is allowed to stop holding her breath, and simply exhale. The problem, as Swift knows, is that part of her appeal is being an apolitical "nice girl", and any authenticity has to be filtered through the toxic mores of what our society demands from women in the public sphere. 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It's far removed from her sold-out shows, but only by so much. While I'm not going to lie and say I'm indifferent towards Swift sharing political views similar to my own (pro-gay rights, pro-renewing the Violence Against Women Act), even if they weren't, it's refreshing to see Swift trying to thread the needle of reinvention while voicing political opinions that will undoubtedly lose her fans who don't agree with her beliefs. As she describes her feelings in Miss Americana, she sounds like any other person craving validation online. You are not allowed to view this material at this time. Taylor Swift: Miss Americana. At most, we can be fans, and for most of her career, Swift determined that the approval of those fans, those strangers, was paramount. And most importantly – she needs other people to think so too. 'Bridgerton' Season 2 Adds Four New Cast Members for Society Fun and Scandal, 'Miss Americana' Review: Netflix's Taylor Swift Doc Highlights the Prison and the Power of Fame, More But Swift benefits from the distance gained over years of overwhelming and often unsought attention, making interview segments with her seem calm and grounded. I'm not particularly interested in a movie that's trying to convince its audience why Taylor Swift's music is good because it's clear that Swift feels in her zone when she's just working. Play Sound. Miss Americana follows Swift closely, but lets the artist explain herself in her own words. Most of the film, which premiered Thursday night at the Sundance Film Festival and hits Netflix on Jan. 31, is more wooden than Pinocchio, offering little … Do the good thing. So just how real does she get in her “Miss Americana” documentary? Cats, politics, and revelations — Taylor Swift gets real in Miss Americana documentary: Sundance review this link is to an external site that may or may not meet accessibility guidelines. Is the politically-woke Taylor Swift of Miss Americana just another "reinvention" to keep her career alive? The film responds to public drama, but offers more than a defensive response to an accusatory era. ‘Taylor Swift: Miss Americana’ Review: A Star, Surprisingly Alone In the Netflix documentary, we see a star that is self-critical, grown up and ready, perhaps, to deliver a … 'Miss Americana': Film Review | Sundance 2020. The entirety of Netflix's “Miss Americana” yearns to continue the feeling of how we first see mega pop star Taylor Swift—sitting cross-legged in overalls, reading from her teenage journal, and talking about different realizations she’s had about the kind of woman she wants to be. Nobody had filmed Swift in the recording studio before, which allows a few moments fans will treasure: breathlessly designing the video for ‘ME!’; tinkling the chords of ‘Lover’; solidifying the years-long buildup to ‘The Man’. 1:23 AM PST 1/24/2020 by Leslie Felperin FACEBOOK; TWITTER; EMAIL ME; Courtesy of Netflix . The singer invites audiences to join her in her return … In one negative review, RogerEbert.com critic Nick Allen, wrote "too much of 'Miss Americana' plays like we should crane our necks back and look up … Shaun O'Rourke gives his movie review for the new Taylor Swift documentary, Miss Americana. She gets to control her narrative in a favorable documentary that upholds her persona as an introspective artist, but swats down anyone who interrogates that persona. I'm passingly familiar with her music, but beyond that I didn't know much about her origins, her career, or her public persona. Credit: Getty. Taylor Swift’s Miss Americana Netflix documentary dropped today, and if you’re looking for an intimate look at the singer’s life, you’re probably only going to love half the content. The narrative loosely traces Swift’s musical journey, with select archival clips from performances as a plucky 12-year-old to sold-out stadium shows, but it isn’t exhaustive either. This turn provides the frame for the whole movie, which is the story of a woman who based her entire career on making strangers happy having to learn what will make her happy even if it may upset some fans. What's surprising about Miss Americana is how little of the documentary is about her music. ‘Out of the Woods’ gives gravitas to Swift’s confidence after her dramatic fallout with Kanye West, while ‘Clean’ offers a stirring atmosphere around Swift’s sexual harassment case. Some may argue that Swift's perceived authenticity is essential to her career and her art, but I'd counter (to borrow a line from Miller's Crossing) nobody knows anybody, not that well. Miss Americana (also known as Taylor Swift: Miss Americana) is a 2020 American documentary film directed by Lana Wilson, that follows American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift and her life over the course of several years of her career. The Netflix documentary revisits key events, but also digs into Swift’s self-imposed expectations. That was a prison, and it's encouraging to see Swift break free. For more of our Sundance 2020 coverage, click here. And yet even playing the nice girl, her grasp on popularity remained tenuous as she becomes embroiled in media controversies over her dating life, her authenticity, and her demeanor. The years of fighting back, of seeking revenge in silence are long gone – now, Swift is reclaiming her crown as a national treasure. From Matt Goldberg, New 'Mortal Kombat' Footage, Brutal Fights Revealed in Behind-the-Scenes Video, 'Godzilla vs. Kong': What You Can Learn By Only Watching Kong and Godzilla's Faces, 'The Sneider Cut' Ep. Taylor Swift performs onstage during the 2019 American Music Awards in Los Angeles, California. Lana Wilson's documentary is at its best when it uses Taylor Swift's story as a way to cast a wider look at the complexities of female celebrity. Taylor Swift: Miss Americana . "It’s time to take the masking tape off my mouth forever”. “Miss Americana” is an attempt to once again kill off the old Taylor, this time with reports not of death but of maturation. Taylor Swift ‘Miss Americana’ Netflix Documentary Review Taylor Swift Finally Invites You Into Her Narrative on Miss Americana By Craig Jenkins … To that end, Swift does an impressive amount of self-reflection. She reads these out from old diaries, and confirms they still hold true; whatever she does, she wants to be good at it. To make a judgment on whether someone you'll never meet is "authentic" or not is a fool's errand, and I was bewildered by the headlines that were more concerned with Swift's persona than her music. Director Lana Wilson tastefully chooses which songs will anchor each vignette. Review: Miss Americana gives an intimate look at the superstar's life as she embarks on a new chapter energized by love and politics. He resides in Atlanta with his wife and their dog Jack. The film notes how the Dixie Chicks were received when they spoke out against George W. Bush in 2003 and the blowback they endured from country fans. Wilson then charts Swift's meteoric rise with how fame and her public persona kept forcing her into dark places. The documentary gives Swift the floor to say her peace on conversations about her weight, her love life, and what her public demands. Please do not use ALL CAPS. Interrupted acceptance speeches at awards ceremonies, secretly recorded phone calls, exile, revenge, rebirth; the country singer turned pop megastar has … Releasing the documentary long after streaming and sales figures numbers have been assessed allows a relaxed viewing experience, seemingly removed from direct marketing duties. ‘Taylor Swift: Miss Americana’: Film Review A stage-managed but compelling Taylor Swift doc follows her rise to pop supernova, but mostly charts the ripples of her offstage psychodrama. Taylor Swift: Miss Americana, review: an unexpected portrait of how utterly lonely superstardom can be 4. But the 2012 Red era is almost entirely absent, don’t expect any 2014 ‘Shake It Off’ dance moves – and cynics looking for a ‘London Boy’ behind-the-lyrics video will leave disappointed. Check box if your review contains spoilers SUBMIT. For someone like me who has no investment in that persona one way or the other, I find the documentary refreshing as a larger take on the perils of female fame. 'Miss Americana' Review: Netflix's Taylor Swift Doc Highlights the Prison and the Power of Fame By Matt Goldberg Published Jan 31, 2020 Lana Wilson's documentary is at … The documentary begins with Swift doing some songwriting with her cat also playing the keys (her cat almost steals the show) before shifting into Swift learning she received no major Grammy nominations for her 2018 album Reputation. It’s a spirited, earnest portrait of an artist who admits that “it’s time to take the masking tape off my mouth forever.” Those who scorned her for staying silent on the US presidential race in 2016 receive an explanation, and the young woman bravely argues how it feels when the world falls out of love with you, and smartly stays private about who she fell in love with, and still is now. I know that new doc about Taylor is getting rave reviews, but you need to calm down! Few musicians can escape scrutiny from a world of strangers – but even fewer have been subject to as much as Taylor Swift. The go-to source for comic book and superhero movie fans. Swift knows her influence is staggering, and finally accepts the responsibility to harness it for self-conscious women, for ambitious women, for women dismissed when they no longer fit the mould, or shunned when another voice deems them not strong enough. I'm not for her or against her. There's nothing here to make new Swift fans or change the opinions of her haters, but that's kind of the point of the documentary: to disregard the audience in favor of examining the relationship between a female celebrity and her followers, and how fame can prove to be a personal prison until you figure out how to take control of your narrative even it means losing popularity. 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