Little Richard: I Am Everything

Name: Little Richard: I Am Everything
Genre: Music, Documentary
Released: April 21, 2023
Duration: 98 min
Rating: 81
Cast: Little Richard, Mick Jagger, Nile Rodgers, Nona Hendryx, Paul McCartney

2023

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Universal acclaim based on 19 Critic Reviews

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Little Richard: I Am Everything (UK Trailer 1)

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Movie Details & Credits

Magnolia Pictures | Release Date: April 21, 2023 | Not Rated

Starring: Little Richard, Mick Jagger, Nile Rodgers, Nona Hendryx, Paul McCartney, Tom Jones

Summary: Little Richard: I Am Everything tells the story of the Black queer origins of rock n’ roll, exploding the whitewashed canon of American pop music to reveal the innovator – the originator – Richard Penniman. Through a wealth of archive and performance that brings us into Richard’s complicated inner world, the film unspools the icon’s lifeLittle Richard: I Am Everything tells the story of the Black queer origins of rock n’ roll, exploding the whitewashed canon of American pop music to reveal the innovator – the originator – Richard Penniman. Through a wealth of archive and performance that brings us into Richard’s complicated inner world, the film unspools the icon’s life story with all its switchbacks and contradictions. In interviews with family, musicians, and cutting-edge Black and queer scholars, the film reveals how Richard created an art form for ultimate self-expression, yet what he gave to the world he was never able to give to himself. Throughout his life, Richard careened like a shiny cracked pinball between God, sex and rock n’ roll. The world tried to put him in a box, but Richard was an omni being who contained multitudes – he was unabashedly everything.… Expand

Director: Lisa Cortes

Genre(s): Music, Documentary

Rating: Not Rated

Runtime: 98 min

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Critic Reviews

100

Owen Gleiberman

Dec 7, 2023

Little Richard: I Am Everything, directed with supreme love and insight by Lisa Cortés, is the enthralling documentary that Little Richard deserves. Read full review

Robert Abele

Apr 20, 2023

A long-overdue creation corrective that gives an outwardly revolutionary cultural icon his trailblazing due at the same time it grapples with the conflicted soul that rarely knew a lasting inner peace. Read full review

RogerEbert.com Sheila O'Malley

Apr 21, 2023

Lisa Cortés uses the Big Bang as a visual motif throughout, with stars and galaxies exploding, hurtling out into the darkness. It is an apt analogy. Read full review

The Guardian Peter Bradshaw

Apr 27, 2023

Little Richard emerges here as an exquisite figure, an aesthete and athlete: a butterfly who could never be broken on any wheel. Read full review

NME Jordan Bassett

Apr 28, 2023

In the end, there’s no doubt you’re looking at someone who, as academic Jason King puts it, “represented a complete upheaval of the existing social system” – and that we’re still enjoying the fruits of that bravery. Read full review

Mark Kennedy

Apr 19, 2023

Cortés argues that Little Richard created the template for the rock icon and she’s got the receipts, tracing his musical and stylistic influences through everyone from the Beatles to David Bowie, Elton John and Lizzo. If there was a king, he was it. Read full review

Richard Whittaker

Apr 25, 2023

I Am Everything is most fascinating when it goes deep into his formative years and the influences of truly obscure figures like Esquerita and Billy Wright (both Black queer musicians). Yet the further into his life the documentary goes, the less insightful it becomes. Read full review

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