★★★1/2 Aretha Franklin was -certainly for whoever writes this, but it’s a matter of taste- one of the greatest voices of the 20th century. And since she emerged from a game show, Jennifer Hudson seems to have been born to play her (she already did it, under another name, in the very mediocre -except for her- Dreamgirls). This biography that narrates how the great Aretha went from singing in a church choir to becoming a paradigm of soul, blues and R&B, does not have any “aesthetic” element that could attract attention. It is not, the Elvis of Baz Luhrman, perhaps because Franklin was less an icon than a being of genius. But instead of being a problem, this is an advantage: we can see Hudson’s interpretation and we can enjoy her voice, the most suitable for reproducing a stainless repertoire. An enjoyable film that, of course, is not lacking in melodrama.
