Liza: A Truly Terrific Absolutely True Story Review: A Dutiful Celebration of a Legend

It’s Liza with a Z. Not Lisa with an S. Liza Minnelli is among those rare, true living legends who seem irreplaceable. Irreplaceable both in that their talent is immense and that it literally appears nobody from a younger generation has the capacity to do as many things as well as she did them. In Liza we have an iconic singer, dancer, and actor. And let’s not forget a pioneer of fashion! One thinks of peers like Barbra Streisand and Cher as apt comparisons and very few others.

Bruce David Klein’s new documentary Liza: A Truly Terrific Absolutely True Story is an unabashed celebration of the woman as told by all of her best friends. Celebrity talking heads like Mia Farrow, Ben Vereen, Chita Rivera, and Joel Grey speak effervescently about Minnelli. Singer and good friend Michael Feinstein emerges as the central storyteller of the film, alongside Minnelli herself. Indeed, the most engaging sections feature Liza, who may be a bit frail but retains her verve. She tells the exciting story of her life, opening on the death of her famous mother Judy Garland.

What immediately followed was deep sadness (Liza was only 23), then career reinvention. Her godmother Kay Thompson led this movement alongside the likes of composer John Kander and lyricist Fred Ebb. And let’s not forget Bob Fosse and Halston. By the spring of 1973, Minnelli had won a Tony Award (for Flora the Red Menance in 1965), an Emmy (for 1972’s television special Liza with a Z), and an Oscar (for Cabaret). And before the end of the ’70s she originated what is now one of the most iconic songs in pop culture (“New York, New York” from Martin Scorsese’s New York, New York) and performed at Halston’s Olympic Tower opening in iconic fashion. This last bit is recalled by fashion designer (and Halston acolyte) Ralph Rucci in the film with appropriate admiration.

Along with Minnelli’s first-person reflection, the archival footage is quite electrifying in spates. There’s a particularly powerful scene in which Vereen is handed an iPad and watches footage of him with Minnelli that leaves him emotional. It’s the small moments––such as a few seconds after Liza ends a video call, spots herself in the lens of the monitor, and proceeds to anxiously adjust her hair a bit––that make Klein’s film something more than canonization. Klein includes much commentary on Liza’s immense generosity and good-heartedness as a friend to many. She could make anyone feel special, and often did.

“I’m so lucky, and I know that,” she says at one point. Yet there’s been so much tragedy. Her long struggle to have children is touched on (with a beautiful reflection from friends Allen and Arlene Lazare). There’s much made (as there should be) of her turn as Sally Bowles in Cabaret. “She needed to be special,” Liza says of Sally and her motivations, an observation that led to those iconic eyelashes (devised by make-up artist Christina Smith, who features in the documentary as well).

Each segment here is tagged with a chapter number and summarizing quote, while past footage is set to a familiar soundtrack and, of course, Liza’s own iconic voice. Her four husbands are given relatively short shrift, as are struggles with addiction. “She wanted to consume the fullness of life,” Feinstein says of her personal life. It’s all a bit standard, not quite delivering on the promise of the cheeky title.

But the stand-out moments really do stand out. There’s a lovely, bittersweet recollection of Liza returning from an event and lamenting: “They wanted her.” That “her” being the character she embodies on stage. Theater director Ben Rimalower makes a salient point: “Liza needs the audience to love her.” It’s an explanation of why she is such a vivacious performer, and perhaps a reason for her struggles off the stage or screen. After all, Liza was born with a spotlight on her.

Liza: A Truly Terrific Absolutely True Story opens in theaters on January 24.

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