P!NK is the most fascinating of artists. When she first hit the pop charts in April of 2000 with LA. Reid produced hits such as There You Go and Most Girls, she was very much a slave to the pop music-making machine and it didn’t take long until she broke free of that and became her own artist on her own terms. In 2019 she hit the road in Europe for an unprecedented stadium tour (called Beautiful Trauma) playing to tens of thousands every night, all with her tight-knit family along for the ride.
Her daughter Willow (8), son Jameson (2), and husband and BMX biker daredevil Corey Hart experienced what their mom does for a living, and this family, as captured in the documentary Pink: All I Know So Far impeccably paints a picture of the most touching of clans on the tour of a lifetime. The Greatest Showman director Michael Gracey was behind the camera and captured what it means to be on the road on a stadium tour, and the touching and sometimes stressful behind-the-scenes moments that come hand-in-hand with a massive tour like this.
One thing became immediately clear. P!NK is her own person, and she doesn’t let anyone define her. That’s why her music now, sounds so different than what LA. Reid had her record when she started this journey. She has evolved into the most stellar and rich of artists with songwriting skills that are unrivaled in her genre. Then, there are her live shows. As captured by Gracey’s camera, the acrobatics that is an enormous part of her life, are an enormous part of his shows and to witness her flying above the crowd, often upside down, and singing like an angel through her army of hits from the last two decades, it is pure bliss.
She even jokes at one point that she thinks she is a better singer upside down!
What is so utterly compelling and downright addictive about watching P!NK and her family, and the 200 people who accompany her on the tour—from roadies, sound engineers, lighting specialists, choreographers, make-up, and costume artists and so in, is this is one big family and with P!NK at the helm, it is all about having fun and giving the fans what they want—a show they will never forget.
It also helps that the artist is one of the best singers of her generation and her dozens of hits are all a piece of her and she bares that soul on the screen as she does win the recording studio and the result is a phoenix rising of a musical order that is utter bliss to witness on the big screen. Her shows are so massive and so involved, that the big screen also serves as the perfect venue for her concert film, All I Know So Far.
There is an element of the documentary that is an utter surprise. We’ve always known P!NK was a good mom, the way she addressed her daughter when she won the MTV Vanguard Award, you know this was the ideal woman to raise strong children who are going to leave their mark on the world.
What we didn’t know is the day-to-day that is chronicled here in Gracey’s film. It’s touching, heartwarming, and makes you want to give the entire Hart clan a big hug. Her daughter is the same age as mine and they seem like two peas in a pod. In fact, at one point, P!NK addresses the camera and speaks to how people like her because she takes no sh*t from people. Then she turns to the camera and says that her daughter scares the sh*t out of here. It takes an independent woman to raise, an independent woman, and Willow is well on her way.
The tour and music aspect is a cornucopia of colors and musical interludes that cover many of her hits, but this is a documentary that is less about the art than it is the artist and as such, it is a highlight recommended experience for fans and newbies alike. Now, if you are a P!NK fan, this is the movie for you. Don’t rent it. Buy it, put it in your permanent collection because this is one of those concert docs that you are going to want to watch over and over again.
The payoff, as it is with most musical documentaries, is clear cut. It’s two sold-out shows in the 90,000 seat arena that is the legendary Wembley Arena in London. Of course, they’re a smashing success and some of the film’s best moments are in those leading up to when P!NK and her dancers and artists take the stage.
She gives them a pep talk about how far they’ve come, how proud she is of them all, and most importantly, how the love permeates every inch of this tour and this caravan of entertainers whose effect on the world cannot be measured for decades to come—simply because P!NK is far from finished.
Grade: A