Blake Peterson
I don't know sh*t about Madonna. I know that the media has a fixation on her aging (how dare she have a wrinkle at 57-years-old?), that she almost died at this year's Brit Awards while performing "Living for Love", that she sliced censors in half during her controversial 1994 interview with David Letterman, that Robert Christgau thinks she's a pop genius, that the gays love her, that she's, all right, clinging to her youth. But still, I hardly know anything about Madonna. Maybe I could barely sing the chorus to "Holiday", but that's all. I'd recognize her if she were to walk down my street. I saw her in "Dick Tracy" once. She was pretty good in that.I suppose I was expecting "Truth or Dare" to have a sort of "Vogue" tinged romanticism, painting Madonna as a pop figure still untouchable, like how "Ready to Wear" made the fashion world funny, nowhere near realistic, but was all the better for it. For all the cultural bullshit that misunderstands her, "Truth or Dare" dares you to hate and love the pop superstar at the same time, wanting you to scoff at her need to be the STAR of every moment, wanting you to appreciate her relentless work ethic, her need to be an entertainer at the top of their game. And like all good documentaries (and why this one is so damn good), the film is riveting for everyone, outsiders and insiders alike. I wasn't a Madonna fan before the documentary nor will I be afterward, but as a rock documentary, "Truth or Dare" stands as one of the finest.Recording the entirety of her 1990 Blond Ambition tour, the film is essentially an inside-look into what a day, a night, a week, a month, a year, looks like for Madonna. (Or maybe it just seems that way: a master of camera manipulation, she may just as well be putting on a show.) Photographed in grainy black-and-white, save for the colored (and obligatory) stage performances, "Truth or Dare" is more warty than glamorized, emphasizing her vulnerabilities, need to be the center of attention, and her wicked sense of humor (she seems to laugh more when people are having a hard time than when everyone is having a ball).I couldn't care less about the complicated choreographic sets that circle around renditions of "Like a Virgin", "Express Yourself", "Holiday", among others; what makes "Truth or Dare" engaging is its frank candidness. Behind the scenes, Madonna notices that the majority of her young dancers are insecure and need mothering; strange, she remarks, how she likes to be a matriarch, to give her stage family someone to confide in. We catch glimpses of her short relationship with "Dick Tracy" co-star Warren Beatty, who scoffs at the fact that real-life doesn't seem to matter to her unless it is captured on camera. Cameos abound, featuring pop-ups from Pedro Almodóvar, Kevin Costner, Antonio Banderas, and Al Pacino. But there are three truly great scenes in the film, where Madonna doesn't seem to be putting on a show, where she doesn't seem to be trying to make herself look a certain way for the cameras.Best is her reaction to Kevin Costner, who comes backstage for one show and describes the production as neat; disgusted, she gags, remarking "Anybody who says my show is 'neat' has to go." Later, an old friend (pre-fame old) meets Madonna in the hallway of her hotel, asking her to be the godmother to her soon-to-be born child. Though it is clear that the women were close back in the day, Madonna blows her off; she doesn't want to be a mother any time soon, and she doesn't have time to waste time with non-celebrities from the past. And in one of the closing scenes, she infamously models what a blow job from Madonna would look like on a glass bottle. Minutes later, she describes her true love as Sean Penn, heartbroken, regretful.Fakery of course comes around — the scene where she visits her mother's grave doesn't feel all too sincere, rather the documentarian's hope to make appear feel bare- bones hopeless — but "Truth or Dare", ultimately, is a winning documentary that makes the once chart-dominating pop-star more fascinating, and timeless, than ever.
jdmxrain
From the very first second that this documentary starts Madonna is full of her own ego. She is very self-centered from the get-go. Watching this documentary I understand why none of her relationships in life last very long. And I mean more than just romantic relationships, she's had a lot of broken friendships. Anyway after 7 minutes of watching it, I decided to skip around to the Warren Beatty parts, I was really curious about him. After his scenes, I skipped towards the end. Yea I skipped around a lot in this documentary because I didn't think it was worth watching the entire hour and 59 minutes. Sure I like some of her music, but her act of using her sexuality is nothing new. Also spoiled divas are nothing new in this world. In the end she's an entertainer and nothing more. I'm not impressed with her quests for spirituality either.I skipped a lot with this documentary, I was really interested in her relationship with Warren Beatty. She's very disrespectful, she calls him up and he's supposed to meet her but there's some misunderstanding and instead of working it out like a woman, she decides to hang up on him. To Madonna people are just expendable, its all just a game to her. I don't think people should take themselves seriously but its like she mistreats people and I don't like that. I get why none of her relationships last and why her marriage probably didn't last.Warren Beatty also tries to talk to Madonna and bring her to reality, he's not mean either, he actually seems like a very nice man, he speaks in a normal voice and tries to reason with her. I can see why it took a long time for Warren Beatty to commit to a woman because with a circus trainwreck like Madonna, even the nicest guy in the world would run.Warren grew up and married Annette Bening and Madonna didn't grow up at all. Not even with kids in her life. She's going to be one of those lonely old people in the end with no one by her side when she really hits her senior years.
beach boy (beachboy1893)
This movie is supposed to be a documentary that depicts Madonna on the road. Just the way she is. But is this a real documentary? Madonna is bold, wick, weird, proud, provocative and she likes to be like that. Very likely, she wants to be like that, hiding her real personality behind all those provocations. So it doesn't seem to be so sincere as documentary, but it's OK as document. There are some celebrities, there'sher music and some interesting moments like her visit to her mother grave, her response to Vatican boycott. It's a very different Madonnafrom that showed in the following documentary, that comes 14 year slater. The difference can be seen also at the premiere: in '91 she presented "Truth or Dare" at Festival de Cannes making all the press talking about her famous appearance, while at the recent documentary premiere we have seen a sober and shy Madonna. While her new documentary "I'm going to tell you a secret" (2005) it's a great documentary that everyone must see, this is only for Madonna's fans.
