Nick Broomfield has made a couple of fascinating documentaries, although, like all documentaries, he's only as good as his subject. His two Aileen Wournos documentaries probably are the highlights of his work, largely because they have unfiltered access to a figure who is so deeply fascinating in her complex attitude to her situation (in both documentaries, being on death row for a series of murders) and are utterly unfiltered. His two best known docos from the late 90s/early 2000s, "Kurt and Courtney" and "Biggie and Tupac" are frequently hilarious while diving deeply into the strange world of music industry conspiracy theories, and while none of the theories could really be called vaguely believable, there is at least residual entertainment in the weird sides of people who are off to the sidelines of fame.
Alas, "Whitney: Can I Be Me" doesn't really have that level of fascination. It's a pretty straightforward music industry biography - telling Whitney Houston's story from her rise to fame in her early twenties to her decline into drugs and death. While there are a couple of reasonable interviews from band members and a couple of relatives, there isn't a single fascinating figure to really hang on to - the footage that forms the centre of this from Whitney's 1999 tour of Germany never really adds up to enough to justify the piece as anything but by-the-numbers. When the best interview footage there is comes from an Oprah interview, you know you're in trouble. Unless you're really particularly fascinated by Whitney's story, this is probably worth skipping.
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