‘Becoming Madonna’ Review: It Comes on as a Look at Madonna’s Early Days, but Most of This Archivally Rich, Dramatically Scrappy Doc Is Set Long After She Became Madonna

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The “emerging” style of music documentaries, such as the “Becoming” series, may not seem particularly promising, but the recent film “Becoming Led Zeppelin” has proven to be an exception. Originally produced four years ago and later revived by Sony Pictures Classics for a more streamlined presentation, it has become a massive hit, grossing over $10 million and being marketed as an IMAX spectacle. The film is undeniably captivating for any Zeppelin fan, but there’s one significant drawback: the narrative focuses on the band up to the release of “Led Zeppelin II,” leaving viewers with a lingering sense of disappointment that we won’t get to see the untitled fourth album by Led Zeppelin – famously known as “the ‘Stairway to Heaven’ album.” Given its status as the band’s magnum opus, the omission of this album feels like an unfortunate quirk of the “becoming” genre.

The film “Becoming Madonna,” screened two weeks ago at CPH:DOX, faces an opposite challenge. It appears as if it will delve into Madonna’s early years, starting from 1978 when she was a 19-year-old, not-yet-blonde emblem of ambition who arrived in New York City. However, instead of exploring the depths of this period, the film seems to focus more on the overall atmosphere of downtown New York during that time, which represented much more than just a physical location. Downtown was a mystique symbolizing punk and new wave, discotheque boutiques, the avant-garde art scene, and the fashionable poverty brought about by New York’s financial decline in the late ’70s, enabling creative individuals to inhabit cheap, bombed-out spaces in the East Village.

During this phase of Madonna’s life, she yearned for stardom and constructed an improvised pathway to achieve it – a story often spoken of as legendary. While we may have fragments of it, it demands more depth. Thus, I was keen to engage with “Becoming Madonna,” a film that offers an adequate selection of archival footage, allowing you to taste the essence of Madonna before her fame.

However, I’d like to share a significant revelation. The film “Becoming Madonna” transports us into the time Madonna spent in New York prior to her fame, offering a glimpse into that epoch…for approximately 20 minutes. The vintage footage is captivating, but it swiftly transitions to Madonna recording “Everybody,” her debut single released on October 6, 1982. From thereon, as the saying goes, the rest has been extensively chronicled in pop history.

The movie titled ‘Becoming Madonna’ doesn’t deliver on its promise of showing how Madonna became the icon we know. Instead, it portrays her legendary career phase as if she was still in a state of transition, which is quite unusual. The IMDb summary calls it a documentary about “Madonna’s rise to fame from 1978 to 1992,” and this description strikes me as hilariously misleading. It’s like labeling a film about the early days of cinema as ‘A film about the development of motion pictures, from 1915 to 1987.’

It’s unfortunate that the first section of “Becoming Madonna” lacks cohesion, as it delves into the intriguing narrative of how she shaped her identity. Despite starting with minimal resources – having only $35 in her pocket and no prior experience with airplanes or taxis – Madonna set foot in New York with dreams of becoming a dancer. She attended ballet classes and performed with various companies, but found the elitist atmosphere of ballet unappealing (this wasn’t downtown). Instead, she transitioned her focus to music. She initially played drums for the band Breakfast Club (we get a glimpse of a recording; she held her own), and soon harbored ambitions of being the lead singer. We witness an amazing clip of her with short dark hair, attempting to exude rock ‘n’ roll cool while leading a band that seemed to be emulating Blondie.

Any devoted fan of Madonna wouldn’t want to miss this intriguing 16mm scrapbook material. In these early glimpses, Madonna appears somewhat raw, with fuller eyebrows and a smile that hints at a mischief not yet fully realized. Yet, there is an undeniable spark in her that makes you ponder if she would have seemed like a star to you then, or just a young club-goer with lofty ambitions.

Additionally, we’re looking for a comprehensive and authoritative account of Madonna’s life, given her numerous encounters with prominent figures similar to Zelig. Unfortunately, the film “Becoming Madonna,” directed by Michael Ogden, fails to deliver this coherently. The movie seems haphazard in its coverage of Madonna’s years, scattering pieces of information without proper context. For instance, it casually mentions that Madonna almost moved into The Music Building, a graffiti-laden rehearsal fortress near Times Square, yet omits crucial details such as her dance training under Martha Graham, her job as a hat-check girl at the Russian Tea Room, her traumatic experience of being assaulted with a knife, her relationship with Jean-Michel Basquiat, and the significant role she played in pestering DJs at Danceteria to play her demos. A more complete portrayal would have been welcome instead of merely hinting at these events.

In modern documentaries, it’s common to feature talking-head interviews without showing the actual speakers. However, “Becoming Madonna” takes this approach to another level. It frequently fails to even acknowledge who is speaking, making the narrative less clear than it should be. For instance, you may have to figure out who “Camille” is (Camille Barbone, Madonna’s first manager and former head of Gotham Records). Yet, the tale about Madonna meeting Seymour Stein, the president of Sire Records, is invaluable. Stein recounts this encounter, stating that when Madonna entered his hospital room, he could sense immediately that she didn’t care if he was lying in a coffin as long as he could sign a contract.

For the remaining portion of the movie, we’re taken through the well-known tale often referred to as the Madonna story. This narrative started in autumn 1983 when she debuted her legendary singles (“Holiday” and “Borderline”) and skyrocketed to fame almost unstoppably, reaching its peak with the release of the album “Like a Virgin,” in November 1984, followed by co-starring in “Desperately Seeking Susan.” This movie helped bolster her image as the new rule-breaking aristocrat of thrift-shop bohemia. By that point, I can attest, she had fully embodied Madonna. She was no longer just herself; she had become Madonna.

An intriguing aspect of “Becoming Madonna” is that it continues to portray her as if she was just beginning to establish herself. Ogden offers significant insights by focusing on Madonna’s deep connections with gay men who significantly influenced her style and persona. The book provides a poignant and revealing account of her friendship with Martin Burgoyne, an East Village bartender who lived with her and became her closest companion. They were kindred spirits, and when Burgoyne contracted AIDS, it struck Madonna deeply. She emerged as one of the key advocates during the AIDS era, similar to Elizabeth Taylor, whose relationships with gay men also played a significant role. By the time of the Blonde Ambition tour, this relationship had left a deep impact on Madonna’s stage persona. Her dancers were all male, which allowed her, as a pop star, to present herself in a unique dance duet with masculinity. In essence, she was fascinated by men but refused to be controlled by them; instead, she became the dominant force.

At the time, this was groundbreaking, and it seems that many people, particularly critics and media pundits, failed to grasp the essence of Madonna. What I believe about her is that beneath all the S&M imagery, she was a deeply romantic singer. Her power dynamics with men became the very definition of romance. You can hear this vividly in “Justify My Love,” where sexual control (and submissiveness) becomes an articulation of love. The haunting beauty of the music gives this message its emotional depth and credibility.

The film “Becoming Madonna” effectively explores Madonna’s connection with the gay community, but it seems overly preoccupied with rehashing her most provocative performances and scandals, such as her performance of “Like a Virgin” at the MTV Video Awards in 1984, the controversial video for “Like a Prayer,” and the release of the book “Sex” in 1992. The film attempts to emphasize the cosmic audacity of these actions, showing us the sensational tabloid headlines labeling her as a “slut” and “trash,” as well as the bewildered mainstream media coverage. However, it fails to grasp that these controversies were often part of her publicity strategy from the outset. The film portrays these controversies as the inferno Madonna had to traverse to become who she is. In reality, she became who she was the instant she chose to ignite that fire.

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2025-04-18 07:51