Sparkle (2012) on Netflix
In 1968 Detroit, Stix recruits the Anderson sisters into a girl group after hearing Sister sing a song Sparkle wrote. Emma, their mother, permits singing only at church.
- Netflix3.3/5
- IMDb5.8/106,918 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes56%
Trailer
Plot summary
In 1968 Detroit, the three Anderson sisters live with their mother Emma, who permits singing only at church. Stix, an aspiring record label executive, hears Sister perform a song Sparkle wrote at a nightclub and asks the sisters to form a group. Delores joins so she can earn money for medical school, and Sparkle talks Sister into it, hoping a talent show prize will let her move out of their mother's house. Sister, the eldest, is a divorcée who has come back home. Stix manages the group and grows close to Sparkle, while his cousin Levi grows close to Sister. Sister takes up with the comedian Satin Struthers.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Sparkle (2012)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Whitney Houston originally cast R&B singer Aaliyah in the lead role of Sparkle, but the plan collapsed when Aaliyah died in an August 2001 plane crash at the age of 22, and the film's production plans were put on hold.
- Sparkle turned out to be Whitney Houston's final feature film role: she died on February 11, 2012, three months after filming ended, and the finished film is dedicated to her memory.
- The soundtrack's lead single, "Celebrate" with Jordin Sparks, holds a grim distinction: it was the very last song Whitney Houston ever recorded before her death on February 11, 2012.
- Whitney Houston's own career traces back to the original Sparkle: as a teenager she watched the 1976 film every day for a week, an obsession producer Howard Rosenman says inspired her to become a singer in the first place.
- A song from the Sparkle soundtrack, "Something He Can Feel", outlived the film itself: it became a hit single twice over, first for Aretha Franklin in 1976 and again for En Vogue in 1992.
