This is not a musical documentary. Twenty Feet from Stardom uses music, and the artists behind the wonderful music to contemplate on the never-dying question about success and stardom.

Sting:

It’s not a level playing field. It never is a level playing field, and you come into life understanding that. It’s not about fairness. It’s not really about talent, you know. It’s… circumstance, it’s luck, it’s destiny. I don’t know what it is, but the best people deal with that.

Success in art is a delicate topic that will haunt any living artists, one that can make or break the spirits of those who are pursuing a career in art, including my self.

Near the end, Sting summed it up quite nicely, emphasis mine:

Real musicians…, there’s a spiritual component to what they do. It’s got nothing to do with worldly success, their music is much more of an inner journey. Any other success is just cream on the cake. There’s this idea that you can go on American Idol and suddenly become a star, but you may bypass the spiritual work that you have to do to get there, and if you bypass that, then your success will be wafer thin.

This is a wonderful film. Great editing, good music, awesome photography, on top of it, is a nice tribute to the artists inside of us all.