‘Pink: All I Know So Far’: Film Review - Hollywood Reporter

In 2018, the singer Pink (aka Alecia Moore) graced the cover of People Magazine’s “The Beautiful Issue” with her two kids, Willow Sage and Jameson Moon. The moment marked a shift in the brazen musician’s public image: Pink, known and beloved for her cheeky attitude, enviable confidence and unconditional love for misfits everywhere, was now a mother. Parenthood challenged her in different ways — shifting her priorities and softening the language she used in interviews. She spoke less about proving herself to haters and more about creating a safe world in which her children could take risks. “I always tell Willow, ‘I’m going to teach you the rules so that you’ll know how and when to break them,’” she told People.

Pink: All I Know So Far, a new Amazon concert documentary on the singer, confirms what fans might already know about the pop star’s new life, one in which she balances her commitment to her children with the demands of her prolific career. The film, directed by Michael Gracey (The Greatest Showman), is the middle child of a recent slate of concert documentaries. It’s not as confessional (although it aspires to be) as Demi Lovato’s Dancing with the Devil or Justin Bieber’s Seasons, nor does it dazzle with its technical insight into her tour performances like Beyonce’s Homecoming. But it’s endearing — a love letter to the fans who’ve watched the musician grow up, and to her children, who might not remember all the details of their badass mother.

Pink: All I Know So Far

The Bottom Line An endearing — if not fully revealing — love letter to family and fans.

Airdate: Friday, May 21 (Amazon)

Director: Michael Gracey

Screenwriters: Jory Anast, Michael Gracey, Cindy Mollo, Pink

1 hour 39 minutes

The doc follows Pink during the summer of 2019 as she jets through Europe on her “Beautiful Trauma” world tour with her kids and husband Carey Hart, a former professional motocross competitor. Its opening moments successfully juxtapose two sides of the musician: the fearless performer swinging on a chandelier-like structure above a crowded stadium in a black glitter leotard; and the busy mother ushering her family from one city to the next.

Beginning in Amsterdam, Pink, via voiceover, discusses the challenges of life on the road and the new anxieties brought on by motherhood. She doesn’t just want her tour to be perfect for fans; she also wants it to be worthwhile for her kids. “The only way I can justify dragging my family all over the world is that we are making memories together,” she says. That’s a lot of pressure, and although the labor of both performances — as musician and mother — bubbles under the surface of the film, it never fully erupts.

Instead, All I Know So Far revels in sweet memories — rehearsals for her show, bike rides through different cities and unplanned moments laughing and lounging in various hotel rooms. These scenes double as revelations on her family’s dynamics (an emphasis on mutual respect, open communication and sardonic humor) and evidence of Pink’s positive parenting style, which is clearly influenced by her career-defining rebellious nature. The star does not want her children to grow out of their quirks, so she tries hard to foster an inclusive nurturing environment. Doing so requires acknowledging how her children’s spirits align with hers, but also embracing their differences.

Pink seems to succeed at that endeavor, especially when it comes to her eldest daughter, who, she admits, has an introspective way of processing emotions that unnerves her. Willow and Pink’s conversations, which are mostly relayed through Pink during her confessionals (curiously rendered in black-and-white to distinguish them from the rest of the footage), signal a mother-daughter dynamic founded on honesty and not yet complicated by teen angst.

All I Know So Far doesn’t ever get as raw as promised. The film spends far more of its time telling than showing, using explanatory narration by Pink and Carey to talk about everything from the pride they feel in their children to the diverse nature of their tour crew. These moments are not only distracting; they risk manufacturing emotions, leaving viewers with the vague sense of needing to experience a feeling they might not organically have. It also encourages repetition — there are only so many ways one can describe certain challenges or triumphs — that slows down the narrative.

The closing credits offer some of the handful of unvarnished, seemingly unscripted scenes that inspire the viewer response the doc aims for. Here, Pink’s relationship to her family feels less contrived, more loose and just plain fun. In one clip, Jameson, her son and younger child, boldly commands her to stop singing in a moment of irritation; in the next, Pink begs Willow to perform with her on stage. “It might be a long time again before I go on tour and then you’ll be older and then you’ll hate me and then you won’t talk to me anymore,” she pleads. “That’s excessive,” Willow replies, her sarcasm sounding eerily like her mother.

All I Know So Far might not fully captivate those without a deep familiarity of Pink, but it will charm existing fans. The film announces a different stage in her life, one in which she’s harnessing her defiant spirit and persistent optimism to show the world that, yes, she’s still a rock star.

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