Spinning Gold

     

   

   This is a new docudrama based on the life and times of Neil Bogart, founder of Casablanca Records. It was written and directed by his son, Timothy Scott Bogart.

     Neil Bogart was a music industry legend, quickly rising through the business finding success first at Buddha Records with Gladys Knight & The Pips and The Isley Brothers. He later started Casablanca Records where he discovered Kiss, Donna Summer, the Village People and George Clinton's Parliament/Funkadelic.

      Rather than use archival footage, Mr. Bogart makes a bold choice reimaging those stars with many of today's artists. Wiz Khalifa plays as George Clinton, Jason Derulo plays as Ron Isley, Ledisi plays Gladys Knight, Pink Sweats plays Bill Withers, and Tayla Parx plays Donna Summers.

      Jeremy Jordan stars as Neil Bogart and he is terrific, truly inhabiting the spirit of the man. The film also stars Jason Issacs as Neil's father, Michelle Monaghan as his wife Beth, Jay Pharoah as Cecil Holmes, Dan Fogler as Buck Reingold, Peyton List as Nancy Weiss, Lyndsy Fonseca as Joyce Biawitz, Sebastian Maniscalco as Giorgio Moroder (terrible accent), Michael Ian Black as Bill lAucoin, Vincent Pastore as Big Joey, Casey Likes as Gene Simmons and Chris Redd as D.J. Frankie Crocker.

       According to Mr. Bogart, "the story is true, even the parts that aren't".  The music and insanity behind the "sex, drugs, and rock & roll" of the music business is well represented. The story itself, as directed by Mr. Bogart, is written with love for his father, faults and all. However, his personal subjectivity of his father works against him, bloating the film and creating tedious moments that an objective director would have handled better. The film runs two hours and seventeen minutes. A tighter two hour film would have definitely cut through the clutter.

        It's still a fascinating film that takes you behind the scenes of the stories of some of music's biggest stars and the man behind them. And the songs, ah the songs, faithfully recreated, are just wonderful.