For every so-called “groundbreaking” new force in music or culture, there are always multiple trailblazers behind them, paving the way and putting in the blood, sweat, and tears for some future artist to get the credit. One of the most unsung but foundational figures in rock and roll history is Little Richard, the controversial queer icon whose flamboyant stage personality foreshadowed stars like Prince, David Bowie, and Harry Styles. Lisa Cortes’ new documentary, Little Richard: I Am Everything seeks to give Richard his much-overdue credit: it’s an occasionally fanciful but insightful documentary that acknowledges Richard’s unsung brilliance and his tumultuous personal life.
The third of twelve children growing up in Macon, Georgia, in the 1940s, Richard’s trademark exuberant performance style and unapologetic acknowledgment of his sexuality were cornerstones of his stage persona from the very beginning, which clashed with his father’s conservative values. Little Richard: I Am Everything does a remarkable job of emphasizing the impact of his father’s early rejection on the rest of Richard’s career and personal life.
Though told in chronological order, Little Richard: I Am Everything employs a few recurring motifs. The most aesthetically inclined of which are segments where Richard is praised as a planetary force and a gravity-shifting being while swelling music and montages of stars dazzle us. On one hand, such praise is most certainly deserved, but it can feel as if Cortes is not content to merely rely on the performer’s merits to sell the audience on Richard.
Of course, he isn’t a hard sell—a self-proclaimed “bronze Liberace” with influences that included Sister Rosetta Thorpe, Esquerita, Clara Ward, and Marion Williams, Richard combined his powerful, energetic vocals with a meticulously crafted stage persona that combined mascara, plenty of hair gel, and eventually sequined jumpsuits in every color of the rainbow. It’s a performance style that’s been replicated by countless acts, but, as Richard himself notes, he’s barely received a crumb of the credit he deserved.
As interviewees like Mick Jagger and John Waters attest, in the early years of Richard’s career, his songs were the victims of frequent and lackluster covers by white artists. Continued attempts by the industry to discredit his success and bury him under more ‘palatable’ personas led to the rock and roll legend having to struggle for financial independence and credit for his astonishing career.
But while his stage persona hinged on the unorthodox embracing of his sexual identity, Richard also underwent multiple periods during which he “cleaned up his act,” singing and preaching within the church. On several occasions, Richard would reject all signifiers of his previous identity and fully throw himself into living a Born-again Christian life, decrying his previous exploits and disowning his sexuality.
The documentary takes time to explore his complicated legacy as a queer icon: though his visibility opened the door for so many others, Richard’s repeated rejections and condemnations of the queer community are undeniably disheartening. Still, Little Richard: I Am Everything manages to find the proper balance between grace and respect towards Richard’s legacy and valid criticism of his more unsavory views or ill-conceived exploits.
Creatively, the documentary’s repeated use of segments like the planetary metaphor and re-enactments of key performances using young Black performers adds a memorable flare to the standard musical biopic formula. On a narrative level, though, it’s almost as if the documentary doesn’t need the embellishments: Richard’s story is so gripping, his interviews so frank, and the testimonies of various celebrities, family members, and professionals so reverent that the tacked-on elements feel like an afterthought.
Still, if the film’s greatest weakness is too much of a good thing, that’s hardly a significant detraction. In the end, Little Richard: I Am Everything is a vibrant, fully-realized portrait that not only tells the story of a foundational force in rock, but it makes the case for its own vitality as a way to—finally—preserve and uplift the legacy of Little Richard.
Little Richard: I Am Everything premieres in select theaters and on digital on April 21.