This
factual drama is an interesting take on singer Helen Reddy, whose female
anthem, I Am Woman, forms the basis
of the similarly titled film. As one of the recent spate of music biopics, it depicts
an icon who tapped into an important time in our culture.
In
the late 1960s, aspiring singer Helen Reddy (Tilda Cobham-Hervey), an
Australian, comes to America with her young daughter to launch a singing career
only to face skepticism, sexism, and indifference to her style of songs as
Beatlemania takes hold. Befriending a music agent, Jeff Wald (Evan Peters), she
begins with small nightclubs in New York City and moves to Los Angeles with
Wald where record labels like Capitol Records beckon. Motivated to write her own songs that feature
her own ‘voice’, she represents a new kind of pop music that not only takes the
charts by storm in the 1970s, but speaks
to a growing, nationwide chorus of women’s equal rights. However, family tensions
come to a head as drugs and financial ruin threaten everything.
The
plot follows the tried and true narrative of radio airplay and luck to create a
hit song. The film draws parallels between
Reddy’s career and the Women’s Movement as many of her hit songs bracket
key plot points including the question ‘if a woman can have a life and a career’.
These issues and her personal relationships could have been developed a bit
more for dramatic impact.
Cobham-Hervey
is fine as the pop star and, with an aura of authenticity, does her own singing
instead of dubbing in Reddy’s vocals. Though not on par with similar films as Bohemian Rhapsody, the film will resonate with fans who remember the pop sensation and
her influence.
***
of **** stars (for Reddy enthusiasts)
