Underplayed Gems

Gaga: Five Foot Two (2017)

Gaga: Five Foot Two poster
Directed by
Chris Moukarbel
Genre
biographical film, music documentary film
Country
United States
Runtime
1h 40m
Rated
R
Rating
7.4 of 10 from 601 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
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How it feels

The documentary follows Lady Gaga over a year as she records her album Joanne and prepares for her Super Bowl halftime show. It shows her struggles with chronic pain and her relationships with family and collaborators.

intimaterawcandidpersonalbehind-the-scenesemotionalunstagedpresent-tense

What happens

Gaga: Five Foot Two is a 2017 American documentary film directed by Chris Moukarbel about singer Lady Gaga. It was produced by Moukarbel, Gaga, Bobby Campbell, and Heather Parry. Shot in a cinéma vérité style and avoiding retrospective material and conventional interviews, it follows Gaga over the course of a year as she records, releases, and promotes her fifth studio album, Joanne (2016), while also preparing for her performance at the Super Bowl LI halftime show. The film presents an intimate portrait of Gaga's personal and professional life, including her relationships with family, friends, collaborators, and fans, and foregrounds her struggle with chronic pain, later identified as fibromyalgia. The project originated through Gaga's management team and was produced by Live Nation, with Moukarbel filming much of the documentary himself over an approximately eight-month period and shaping it as an intimate, present-tense portrait rather than a conventional retrospective. Gaga: Five Foot Two premiered at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival on September 8, 2017, and was released globally on Netflix on September 22. The film received generally favorable reviews from critics. Many reviewers praised its emotional candor, behind-the-scenes access, and Gaga's willingness to appear vulnerable, particularly in scenes dealing with chronic pain, family, and loneliness. Others commended Moukarbel's intimate approach and the documentary's portrayal of Gaga as more human and emotionally exposed than in earlier celebrity images. More critical reviews, however, argued that the film was too carefully managed, lacked narrative focus and context, and offered a limited or overly curated portrait of its subject, with several critics unfavorably comparing it to Madonna: Truth or Dare (1991). The film won Best Music Documentary at the 2018 MTV Movie & TV Awards, and also received awards from the NME Awards and the Webby Awards. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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