Surprisingly, director Lisa Cortés’ documentary Little Richard: I Am Everything (2023) was recently passed over by Oscar voters, failing to make the shortlist of contenders for best documentary feature. One may speculate as to a number of reasons it may have failed to garner more support — ranging from early appearances on co-producer CNN’s channel to the challenges of covering such a well-known person. But the important thing is that you should watch the film, available streaming on sources such as Amazon Prime.
Little Richard: I Am Everything in the time provided does an excellent job of telling the story of Richard Penniman, one of the most important figures in the history of Rock and Roll. The film does not attempt to tell a linear story of every event in Little Richard’s life, but it puts together the story in an interesting fashion to help convey Little Richard’s talents and the contradictions throughout his life.
The movie features famous musicians, family members, and Black and queer scholars to piece together the ups and downs of Little Richard’s life and career. The tale shows Little Richard not only as a musical icon, but as an important figure in Black and queer history, even as Little Richard himself struggled with his own sexuality and his music at various times in his life.
As director Cortés states in the press kit for the film, “Tracing Richard Wayne Penniman’s path from 1930s Macon, Georgia through underground Black drag clubs to segregated concert halls and international fame, the film rejects simplification, giving Little Richard his due both as a revolutionary and as a deeply conflicted artist navigating tensions of race and sexuality more heated today than during his rise.”
At various points, including near the end of his life, Little Richard chose a faith that he felt required him to renounce the music and sexuality he had embraced. Watching clips of Little Richard so full of life on stage during his rock and roll years, it can be difficult to see him near the end of his life when he no longer appreciated what he had accomplished. When asked about the turn of events in Little Richard’s life, one of the commentators profoundly replies that an ending does not dictate the full significance of a person’s life.
That is true for all of us, but especially true in the case of someone like Little Richard, whose life continues to resonate and whose music still brings great joy.
Photo courtesy via Magnolia Pictures. What did you think of Little Richard: I Am Everything? Leave your two cents in the comments.
