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.