Liza: A Truly Terrific Absolutely True Story (Blu-ray Review)
- Review Date: Apr 22, 2025
- Format: Blu-ray Disc
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Director
Bruce David KleinRelease Date(s)
2024 (April 1, 2025)Studio(s)
Atlas Media (Zeitgeist Films/Kino Lorber)- Film/Program Grade: B+
- Video Grade: A
- Audio Grade: A
- Extras Grade: A-
Review
As its subtitle suggests, the entertaining and informative Liza: A Truly Terrific Absolutely True Story is more a celebration than a probing documentary of performer Liza Minnelli. Dominating the film is the feeling of hordes of gay men locking arms, circling the wagons to protect their beloved icon. Yet, as the film persuasively argues, Minnelli is a woman very much worthy of such devotion.
Living in the shadow of her famous parents, film director Vincente Minnelli but especially Judy Garland, the movie smartly opens with Garland’s death in 1969. There are no heartwarming tales about “Mama,” as Liza always calls her, instead it focuses on how Minnelli began as a very talented but unformed performer who gradually transformed into an acclaimed movie and stage actress-singer-dancer in films like Cabaret, on television in specials like Liza with a Z, and on stage in Chicago (famously substituting for Gwen Verdon when Verdon needed surgery), in ways subtly but significantly separate from Garland.
Much of the film reflects Minnelli’s own beliefs about her career trajectory, that while she definitely had talent, the Minnelli persona that blossomed in the early 1970s was the result of many influences from trusted friends, particularly author-actress-singer-vocal coach and arranger Kay Thompson; French singer-songwriter Charles Aznavour; dancer-director Bob Fosse; lyricist Fred Ebb; and fashion designer Halston. Minnelli is no credit hog, she and on-camera interviewees agreeing that Minnelli’s red-sequined entertainer is really a fusing of all these and other influences.
Conversely, Minnelli’s marriages, to flamboyantly gay entertainer Peter Allen (she had no idea, she insists), producer Jack Haley, Jr., sculptor Mark Gero, and bizarre concert promoter and opportunist David Gest are quickly and unsatisfyingly dispensed with, as are her various romances with others, including Peter Sellers, Desi Arnaz, Jr., Martin Scorsese, Ben Vereen, Rock Brynner (son of Yul), and Mikhail Baryshnikov. The interview subjects argue Minnelli genuinely loved them all, that she had an inexhaustible amount of love to give, but that too often it was directed at people unworthy of her.
Buttressing this argument is the large portion of the film devoted to Minnelli’s personal and emotional generosity toward so many, how she treated even strangers she just met as if they were lifelong best friends, her devotion and loyalty toward others impresses.
At times, the documentary is amusingly, overtly gay. For instance, one could make a drinking game out of the number of times interview subjects use the term “iconic”—though the risk of becoming blind-drunk doing this runs high. Even Minnelli’s eyelashes are deemed “iconic.” The picture’s one big weakness is a long digression into the career of fashion designer Haltson, one interviewee’s hyperbole extending to calling him “a religious entity... a pope... a king... a GOD!”
In this spirit the film is more concerned with Minnelli’s look than her substance as a performer. For instance, the colors and textures of Minnelli’s interpretation of lyrics is fleetingly discussed, less so than her costumes and hairstyles. The film also glosses over Minnelli’s public battles with drug and alcohol abuse, she generally in denial in archival footage and in later footage downplaying its importance in her life. Those interviewed for the film are again cautious and protective of Minnelli when discussing it. Most prominent in new footage are longtime friends Mia Farrow, Michael Feinstein, composer John Kander (Ebb’s youthful writing partner on Cabaret and Chicago), Joel Grey, George Hamilton, half-sister Lorna Luft, the late Chita Rivera, and Ben Vereen. Many others appear with Minnelli in archival footage.
Minnelli herself is interviewed in new footage, she’s in good spirits but suffering from tremors throughout, a condition that goes unaddressed in the film. (News reports suggest she’s suffering from the early stages of dementia.) As with every other aspect of the film, director Bruce David Klein handles her with kid gloves, showing her in the best possible light.
A Zeitgeist release through Kino Lorber, the new Blu-ray presents the digitally-shot film in its original 1.78:1 widescreen format, which is up to contemporary video standards, though the film clips from Cabaret are visually unimpressive, perhaps derived from a standard-def source. Offered in both DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and 2.0 mixes, the audio is impressive, and supported by optional English titles. Not listed but a third audio option provides descriptive audio for the visually impaired. The disc is Region “A” encoded.
Supplements consist of an audio commentary by director Klein, co-producer/co-editor Alexander J. Goldstein, and co-producer Dana Craig; outtakes from interviews with Feinstein, Vereen, and Luft; a Q&A with Klein, moderated by Jim Caruso; and a theatrical trailer.
Liza: A Truly Terrific Absolutely True Story is enjoyable and does its job, insofar it makes the viewer want to seek out performances by its subject one has missed, and/or revisit old favorites. Recommended.
- Stuart Galbraith IV