Critically acclaimed Luther Vandross doc to make Michigan premier at Freep Film Fest

The music of the late, great Luther Vandross is indelibly intertwined with Black American culture. How many brides have walked the aisle, how many couples have first-danced to “Here and Now?” How many birthdays, graduation parties and family cookouts have throbbed to “Never Too Much?” How many date nights, heartaches and breakups have been underscored by “Superstar (Until You Come Back to Me),” “A House is Not a Home,” “If Only for One Night?”

Through every celebration, every unrequited love, the good times and the bad, “Lootha” has been there. The memories attached to his prolific musical catalog are precious, visceral, unforgettable.

The story of this special man and his iconic music is told in “Luther: Never Too Much,” a new documentary screening in its Michigan premiere Sunday, April 14 as part of the Freep Film Festival.

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Since its world premiere in January at the Sundance Film Festival, it’s drawn critical praise. Essence called it “triumphant, and everything Vandross fans would want from a documentary about his life.” Deadline said director Dawn Porter “portrays Vandross as a man of deep passion and craftsmanship who was a master at controlling his world. Yet, the documentary does not shy away from the challenges the singer faced.”

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This includes his lifelong struggles with his weight, his career-long frustration at being held back from crossover potential because racist practices categorized him as “a Black artist” and the lifelong loneliness he suffered because the world was not a hospitable place for him to come out as a gay man in the 1980s and ‘90s.

Much of the footage is culled from rarely seen archival interviews with Vandross himself, so the spine of the film is actually comprised of him telling his own story, in his own words. Legends such as Roberta Flack, Dionne Warwick, Mariah Carey, Valerie Simpson and Richard Marx also show up throughout to share their perspectives on the man they worked with and dearly loved.  

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Director Porter told the Free Press that the entire film was put together in less than one year. However, despite the acclaim, the film still has no official theatrical release date. Even with all the reviews and with big-name producers including Colin Firth and Jamie Foxx backing the project, no distributor has picked up the documentary for mainstream release.

“This movie is not sold,” she said. “So I don’t know. I don’t know. I'll leave you to ponder why that is. I don't, I literally don't have any answers for it. And I certainly won't make any excuses for it. It's been surprising.”

On a more positive note, she said audiences are having exceptionally strong emotional responses to the movie.

“I am thrilled and a little surprised at the emotion,” she said. “So many people tell me they cry. During it, they laugh and cry, but they’re not sad; they are just having the whole range of emotions. The other thing I adore is how many people tell me they bring their parents to see it. There’s this intergenerational experience together, and there’s not a ton of movies where you get that these days.

“It’s made me so happy, and I really want this in a wide release because I think it’s that kind of ‘bring-you-together’ movie. Our audiences are mixed races and ages and backgrounds, and there are people who have heard of him and have not. I think (distributors) are missing out by not recognizing that there’s a big audience for this film, so I hope that changes soon.”

That means your only chance to see “Luther: Never Too Much” in the near future is at the Freep Film Festival. Seats are selling quickly for the sole screening at 6 p.m. on Sunday, April 14, at the Detroit Film Theatre at the Detroit Institute of Arts, 5200 Woodward Ave. General admission tickets are $15 and can be purchased at freepfilmfestival.com.

Contact Free Press arts and culture reporter Duante Beddingfield at dbeddingfield@freepress.com.