P!NK: ALL I KNOW SO FAR (2021)
Featuring P!nk, Carey Hart, Willow Sage Hart, Jameson Moon Hart, Baz Halpin, Roger Davies, Jason Chapman, Justin Derrico, Mark Schulman, Eva Gardner, Adriana Balic, Jessy Greene, Jenny Douglas-Foote, Stacy Campbell, Loriel Hennington, Tracy Shibata, Remi Bakkar, Khasan Brailsford, Reina Hidalgo, Shannon Holtzapftel, Jeremy Hudson, Justine Lutz, Madelyne Spang and Anthony Westlake.
Written by P!nk, Michael Gracey, Cindy Mollo and Jory Anast.
Directed by Michael Gracey.
Concert footage directed by Larn Poland.
Distributed by Amazon Prime Video. 99 minutes. Not Rated.
We have all watched P!nk grow up in the 20 years that she has been on the top of the charts. She has gone from wild party girl to a surprisingly grounded, unaffected and complicated adult. Her marriage with motocross racer Carey Hart has gone from tabloid fodder to settled and comfortable. Her songs have gone from “So what, I’m a rock star…” to “All I know so far…” She is a wife, and a mother, and a boss, and a part of an artistic collective, and an entertainer, and an industry.
That’s a lot of balls to keep in the air at once.
All I Know So Far scrutinizes a couple of weeks of the European leg of her 2019 Beautiful Trauma tour. It shows her juggling those balls – singer, dancer, entertainer, acrobat, artist, friend, regular woman, wife, mother….
In something of a surprise, the movie tends to put that last part of P!nk first.
And look, their kids are adorable, and P!nk and Carey are obviously loving, doting parents. I know she’s trying to show what it is like to be a rock star mama on the road. But, really, there’s way too much of the kids here. We’re here looking to hear music, not to watch a couple of cute tykes frolicking around European streets, hotels and back stages. Save that stuff for your home movies.
I get the fact that Willow and Jameson are the most important thing in her life – but they aren’t the most important thing in her life for us.
Although, I suppose it shows what a selfless artist P!nk is that she tries to cede the attention – even in a film about herself – to others. Her touring group, her management, her fans, her husband, her kids (especially her kids!), strangers she meets on European streets – P!nk is more than happy to share the spotlight with them. She does have a refreshing lack of self-absorption for a singer who has been a star most of her adult life.
As she points out here about the huge entourage of musicians and dancers that tour with her, she is not intimidated about being overshadowed by their talent. Their doing the best possible only makes her look better. She wants to surround herself with the finest, most passionate people she can find.
It is scenes like that which help to show how P!nk has become the star she has. She was always an adventurous talent, as pointed out by an early clip shown in the film of P!nk doing Madonna’s “Oh Father” at a talent show – an adventurous choice of Madonna song for such a young singer to cover. There would be so many more songs in Madonna’s songbook which would be much more obvious.
All I Know So Far also does periodically flash back to her youth in the Philadelphia area and her early days in the music business. But mostly, it is P!nk on the streets and stages (and hotels and dressing rooms) of Europe.
The last half hour or so is almost straight concert footage from her Wembley Stadium show (except for one extended backstage segment which returns us to the P!nk wife and mom narrative), and that is where All I Know So Far really takes off.
Jay S. Jacobs
Copyright ©2021 PopEntertainment.com. All rights reserved. Posted: May 21, 2021.