The first time I saw this movie was as a last-minute thing, and it was double-billed with John Waters's "The Diane Linkletter Story," which was unfortunate. "Superstar ..." is dead serious, and addresses eating disorders straight-on, while still giving the viewer an honest view of Karen Carpenter's life, pressures, and place as an artist (I still hear people refer to her as having the most soulful white voice of her generation). I think a lot of our uneasiness with films that (even wrongly accused) seem to make fun of Karen Carpenter (and "Superstar ..." certainly does not, but its unconventionality leads some to take it as frivolous), is that, when Karen Carpenter died, she'd become uncool, and we made all the jokes about her, and now we feel guilty.
Seeing this movie should pick at the scab on that guilt a bit, which isn't a bad thing.
In contrast, "The Diane Linkletter Story," also about a famous young woman's untimely death (suicide from a high window), was a joke made to shock the audience. Not that that's bad -- I'm a huge JW fan and always will be -- but it has nothing in common with "Superstar ..." TDLS was filmed on the very day that Diane Linkletter killed herself, and so contains very little reflection or morality. It's not supposed to since (I believe) it's a parody of "on the spot" news coverage in which there is no rest time between actual events and the reporting thereof.
It is that rest time, and the reflection that Todd Haynes put into "Superstar ..." that makes the movie so touching and illuminating, regardless of his choice of materials/cast.
And the music still haunts to this day ...
Seeing this movie should pick at the scab on that guilt a bit, which isn't a bad thing.
In contrast, "The Diane Linkletter Story," also about a famous young woman's untimely death (suicide from a high window), was a joke made to shock the audience. Not that that's bad -- I'm a huge JW fan and always will be -- but it has nothing in common with "Superstar ..." TDLS was filmed on the very day that Diane Linkletter killed herself, and so contains very little reflection or morality. It's not supposed to since (I believe) it's a parody of "on the spot" news coverage in which there is no rest time between actual events and the reporting thereof.
It is that rest time, and the reflection that Todd Haynes put into "Superstar ..." that makes the movie so touching and illuminating, regardless of his choice of materials/cast.
And the music still haunts to this day ...