Audience Member
I took a renewed interest in Rick Springfield after watching Ricki & The Flash. This was a heartfelt and sometime funny look at Rick & his "motivated" fan base.
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
02/12/23
Full Review
Audience Member
The last few months I've been going through a documentary phase, partly
because I plan on producing one myself, but mostly because I always
found them fascinating. A friend suggested that I watch "An Affair of
the Heart", a doc about 80's pop-star Rick Springfield. While not a
die-hard fan like the ones featured in the film, I appreciated his
music and relevance at the time.
I have to say first and foremost, the film made me care about Rick; he
was forthright with his issues and demons and I feel he and the
filmmakers presented an honest perspective. At one point the film cut
to personal stories about people facing adversity and I was "what does
this have to do with Rick Springfield?", but that soon turned into some
of the most touching footage of the film. I know how important it is to
touch someone and have them resonate with you, and the film showed us
that Rick has compassion towards people and his fans...when they need
him.
I thought the pacing was excellent, with the right amount of
interview/fan segments and concert footage. I was never bored and don't
think I picked up my tablet once during the film. Some of my favorite
segments were on the cruise ship with just Rick and his piano, pouring
out his heart. I met my best friend in an Elton John chat room on AOL
20 years ago, so I could relate to the Rick Springfield fans meeting
and bonding for life as well.
From a technical perspective, it was shot well...no shaky, amateurish
looking shots and the concert footage was excellent. The sound and
editing were top-notch as well and I appreciate all the work that goes
into a production of this magnitude. Great job!
Rated 4.5/5 Stars •
Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars
01/25/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Rick Springfield might be a joke to some, but not to the fans in this documentary. Director Sylvia Caminer is able to portray a rock icon that never really was, through the eyes of his fans. You get to know more about how big of a star Rick Springfield could have been if his fans had their way. Unfortunately, not all of the stories are as compelling as Caminer wants them to be, some are, but not all. And if you're not a huge fan of Springfield already, you probably won't be won over. However, you might have some fun.
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
02/06/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Fun to visit a chapter of my life. Now I will have Jesse' girl stuck in my head all night.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
01/17/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Yea so I watched the Rick Springfield documentary. Damn what a crazy following. However, he is good to his fans.
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
02/25/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Okay, confession time. The music of Rick Springfield is not foreign to me. His incredibly popular hit "Jessie's Girl" was #1 on the Billboard 100 charts when I was 16 years old. I have two sisters who are slightly younger than me and they had the typical "Tiger Beat" magazine-style crush on the guy back then. They would play his records non-stop but they got over him. Which is exactly the opposite of the people (or rabid fans) presented in this documentary.
My confession of being quite familiar with Rick Springfield must also include that even as my sisters swooned over him, I heard something within his music that I liked. That something is that Springfield can write an awesome pop tune. And while "Jessie's Girl" remains one of the finest Rock/Pop (or "Power Pop") songs to come out of the '80s, he wrote a lot of incredible catchy, guitar driven music. There's something about crunchy power chords and stick-in-your-head choruses that I've loved since I could afford an album collection. In fact, I think I own seven or eight of his albums from both the early '80s to his latest from 2012.
Still, there's some scary behavior displayed by the hard-core fans seen in this "Rock"-umentary. There's no doubt that the music means something to them as they all give reasons, some rather touching, about their obsession.
I mentioned my appreciation for his music as a way to set up my bewilderment about theirs. Everyone has had the experience of a song "bringing you back" or stirring up that feeling of nostalgia from within. These "Rick-sters" though, they take it to the next level. It's not unlike self-proclaimed super fans of other artists, whether they be musicians or movie stars. It's a dependency that's hard to understand, but it's not exclusive to Rick Springfield. Think "Star Wars" or Jimmy Buffett or Justin Bieber. It's all the same, regardless of age or gender.
Another thing, Springfield touches on his struggles with depression, drugs, infidelity and other troubles that have plagued him. Here's a news flash...it's not unique. If these are attempts made to legitimize him through experiencing these struggles, it rings a little hollow. All the legitimacy in the world is on display when the documentary covers his performance at a heavy metal festival in Sweeden. Talk about a square peg in a round hole. But surprise! It appears that those metal-heads liked what he was doing.
Look, I'm not beating up on him. It's just that most people have never and will never reach the levels of success that Springfield has, and it would have been decent to focus more on that and leave a little of the tear-jerking stuff on the cutting room floor.
Rated 2.5/5 Stars •
Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars
02/15/23
Full Review
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