Home Entertainment: ‘George Michael: Portrait of an Artist’ Blu-ray review
thehollywoodnews.comOver the last couple of years, we’ve been treated to several George Michael-focused features; from the posthumous Michael co-directed George Michael: Freedom Uncut to this year’s Netflix Wham!
documentary. Here’s another chronicle of the pop icon from director Simon Napier-Bell who manages to peel away the gloss and offer a different angle.George Michael: Portrait of an Artist starts at the beginning: the Wham!
years, where two school friends met and formed what would become one of the biggest bands of their time. Napier-Bell quickly moves quickly through the period, though still covers the bullet points up to Michael’s rise through the industry and ultimately away from Wham!
bandmate Andrew Ridgely. We quickly move on to the early solo years, through the ‘divorce’ from his record label and onto David Geffen’s, and then through the tragic latter years when the documentary really comes into its own.The ‘narrative’ is told entirely through talking heads – away from the big names, save Stevie Wonder who appears occasionally via a Zoom interview – the filmmakers presenting industry figures and former collaborators, to psychotherapists and even broadcasters who interviewed Michael over the years (specifically Piers Morgan and yes, even Richard Madeley).
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