How To Disappear Completely

isn't music supposed to express what people are feeling?/music is supposed to sell

We saw DreamGirls in the dollar theatre. My dad summarized the experience: "Joan loved it. Sarah liked it. And I stayed awake." Although it was touch-and-go there towards the end when my dad was in mortal fear that someone, anyone was going to break into another introspective what-went-wrong song at any given minute. But the film, while starting to drag a bit towards the end, managed to keep the pace limping towards a decent finish. Not exactly Chicago I suppose, but then, nothing is exactly Chicago and that's probably a good thing.

My mom loved it, especially for the costumes (largely for nostalgia reasons, and the fact that one flashy extravaganza followed after another). I thought the film did a pretty good job of hitting the issues surrounding the music industry in the late 50s/early 60s and through the 70s (including all the racial tensions such as the "whitening" of "black" music). And I was impressed with Jennifer Hudson, but then so were the Academy Award judges. And Eddie Murphy--almost didn't recognize him, and that's a compliment.

And of course, the age-old theme of business versus art--lowest common denominator versus artistic integrity.

And Beyonce is still getting roles with, say, three lines of spoken speech. No one wants to hear her talk, I guess. What do you do when you are bootylicious?

This video, in which Effie White's version of One Night Only gets "made-over" into mainstream disco glitz, pretty much sums up all the tensions running through the film.

You can also see the video here.