Let the Canary Sing (2023)

Let the Canary Sing (2023). 1h 36m

“I remember first becoming a fan of Cyndi Lauper when the BBC put on her u0026#39;Live in Parisu0026#39; show on late night telly one Saturday back in the summer of 1989. The show really illustrated what a dynamic live performer she was and reminded me of some of the quality tunes she had in her back catalogue. The unfortunate thing was that, just as I was fully embracing her music, her career was beginning a definite downturn, as her latest album of the time u0026#39;A Night to Rememberu0026#39; was doing decidedly less good business that the previous two, which didnu0026#39;t seem all that surprising at the time given that, unlike u0026#39;Sheu0026#39;s So Unusualu0026#39; and u0026#39;True Colorsu0026#39;, the new record was dangerously close to Phil Collins territory. Consequently Cyndiu0026#39;s sense of fun was completely absent in this adult contemporary hell. Her music career never really recovered in the intervening years but she had a few other strings to her bow, such as winning an Emmy, a Tony and successfully campaigned for various human rights issues.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThis documentary looks at Cyndiu0026#39;s life and career, with unsurprisingly a particular emphasis on the u0026#39;Sheu0026#39;s So Unusualu0026#39; era, which was the period where she became a superstar. Thereu0026#39;s some interesting detail in the early pre-fame days, including her time with the band Blue Angel. The detail becomes fuzzier from the u0026#39;True Colorsu0026#39; era onwards though, with increasingly more emphasis being put on the activism as opposed to music. Thereu0026#39;s no getting away from the fact it is a very one-sided take on this artist, with nothing too contentious included. The doc is far from being alone in this regard, as many adopt this approach but it does mean as a narrative it can be a bit lacking at times on account of this. The format is of the talking heads variety and it did seem a bit of a shame that beyond Cyndiu0026#39;s collaborators and inner circle, the only famous talking head was Boy George – it would certainly have been interesting to have heard more perspectives. There is a good enough selection of old clips and stills used to add texture and the story overall is well enough told for sure, even if it sometimes feels a little bit haphazard and could have been a little more sharply focused overall. But the most important aspect is that this has been made at all, as Cyndi Lauper most definitely deserves a film made about her, as her talents as a voice and performer have been massively under-acknowledged for the most part. One of the rare examples where I do recall her talents being recognised was when a reviewer from the NME reviewed the John Lennon tribute concert back in 1990 which featured all manner of artists; the review – which was overwhelmingly negative otherwise – singled out Lauperu0026#39;s performance of u0026#39;Working Class Herou0026#39; as being easily the highlight and said it was in fact the best stage presence he had witnessed since seeing Prince live several years before. High praise coming from Britainu0026#39;s premier hipster music weekly of the time but definitely well deserved.”