"Shut Up & Sing" evolves into an engrossing sociological study about brand perception, the fickle nature of fame, the perils of spiraling media mayhem, and de facto censorship spawning from industrywide groupthink.
Shut Up & Sing (2006)
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Reviews Counted:117
Fresh:105
Rotten:12
Average Rating:7.6/10
Consensus: Though ostensibly an intimate look at the Dixie Chicks after their 2003 anti-Bush remark, the film achieves broader relevance by exploring how media, politics, and celebrities intertwine.
Theatrical Release:Oct 27, 2006 Limited
Box Office: $1,072,805
Synopsis: This documentary captures the female country-&-western group the Dixie Chicks in performance around the U.S. and London between the years 2003 and 2006. While performing in 2003, singer Natalie... This documentary captures the female country-&-western group the Dixie Chicks in performance around the U.S. and London between the years 2003 and 2006. While performing in 2003, singer Natalie Maines ignited a maelstrom of controversy and red-state outrage when she declared--from a London stage on the eve of the Iraqi conflict--that she was ashamed that President George W. Bush was from her home state of Texas. When a rabidly right-wing group picked up on it, the band found themselves in the center of controversy regarding the nature of patriotism, freedom of speech, feminism, and the split between pro- and anti-war Americans. Filmmaker Barbara Kopple brings us the fly-on-the-wall view of the next three years, capturing Haines and sisters Emily Robison and Martie Maguire in dressing rooms, on stage, and in recording studios, bonding with each other, their families, producer Rick Rubin, and their supportive manager, Simon Renshaw. Through the crises, they keep their sense of humor and sisterhood, not backing down from their liberal stance, and turning the backlash into a triumph. They also make some great music, and the film includes plenty of riveting, intense footage of the band in performance onstage and in the studio. Among the faces appearing in archival footage are President Bush, Bill Maher, and right-wing country star Toby Keith. [More]
Starring: Natalie Maines, Emily Robison, Martie Maguire, Rick Rubin
Starring: Natalie Maines, Emily Robison, Martie Maguire, Rick Rubin, George W. Bush, Adrian Pasdar
Director: Barbara Kopple, Cecilia Peck
Director: Barbara Kopple, Cecilia Peck
Producer: David Cassidy, Claude Davies, Barbara Kopple, Cecilia Peck
Studio: Weinstein Company
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Reviews for Shut Up & Sing
In watching the documentary Shut Up & Sing, one thought comes to mind. We all may be over the Dixie Chicks.
Shut Up & Sing teeters on the edge of deifying Maines, Maguire and her sister, banjo and guitar player Emily Robison, for their perseverance. But the film also focuses on the shrewd strategies they adopt in trying to keep their career afloat.
The Dixie Chicks' struggle with the conflicting demands of art and commerce as portrayed in this documentary shows that they're still not ready to make nice.
Shut Up & Sing wrestles with a number of compelling issues facing the Dixie Chicks without going into too much depth on any particular one.
Free speech and its ramifications are at the heart of "Shut Up & Sing," which recognizes that for the celebrity, engaging in a public exchange of ideas and opinions isn't always without its costs. The price can be dire.
A fascinating look at the intersection of commerce, celebrity, and controversy.
Despite death threats, boycotts and public vilification, the song has gone on for the Dixie Chicks. And that's not whistling Dixie.
While watching the Chicks balance career and family life, Kopple and Peck paint an intimate portrait of a group breaking free of being a brand.
Succeeds as a summation of America's shaky grasp of freedom. And while the footage of the girls at work and play sometimes seems inconsequential, there are moments that are as unexpectedly pleasing as the band's soft country sounds.
The film is about the way hazards force artists to rethink careers and, in some cases, do better work.
... unfettered access to the band's strategy sessions with their manager and publicist yields a fascinating story nonetheless ...
Shut Up and Sing tells the story of three young women whose belief in America is bred in the bone, and it shames their critics.
What emerges is an intimate and fascinating portrait of the three women who, instead of being 'divided and conquered,' stick together and build something new.
There's no more soul-stirring way to relive the last three years, in all their miserable divisiveness, than to see Shut Up & Sing.
The filmmakers had impressive access to the group, and the results are eye-opening.
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