Back in 1990, the downfall of European pop duo Milli Vanilli seemed like an open-and-shut case of disgrace.
They — Fabrice Morvan and Rob Pilatus — were the lip-synching scofflaws, convicted in the court of public opinion of fraud against a generation of FM Top 40 radio listeners robbed of our precious sense that music and its artistic authorship were directly linked. The punishment? Permanent professional ostracism and punchline status — though when Pilatus died of an accidental drug overdose in 1998, the reality became even more punitive.
Luke Korem’s new documentary Milli Vanilli attempts to give the “Blame It on the Rain” non-singers 106 minutes of re-evaluation. Were they perpetrators or victims? If they were some gradation of the latter, who were the actual villains? If they were some gradation of the former, did the punishment fit the crime? What did Rob and Fab actually do, what was their actual sin and why did audiences respond the way they did?...
They — Fabrice Morvan and Rob Pilatus — were the lip-synching scofflaws, convicted in the court of public opinion of fraud against a generation of FM Top 40 radio listeners robbed of our precious sense that music and its artistic authorship were directly linked. The punishment? Permanent professional ostracism and punchline status — though when Pilatus died of an accidental drug overdose in 1998, the reality became even more punitive.
Luke Korem’s new documentary Milli Vanilli attempts to give the “Blame It on the Rain” non-singers 106 minutes of re-evaluation. Were they perpetrators or victims? If they were some gradation of the latter, who were the actual villains? If they were some gradation of the former, did the punishment fit the crime? What did Rob and Fab actually do, what was their actual sin and why did audiences respond the way they did?...
- 6/13/2023
- by Daniel Fienberg
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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