In the documentary, “Gaga: Five Foot Two,” released last month, anyone with access to Netflix is invited into the emotional, tumultuous and thrilling life that Lady Gaga lives from being cast in Bradley Cooper’s “A Star is Born,” to the production process for “Joanne,” and even her famous Super Bowl performance.
The word “gaga” actually means “marked by wild enthusiasm.” Lady Gaga is not just enthusiastic, she’s golden. Musical documentaries and celebrity biographies tend to showcase an icon’s career, their ups and downs throughout their lives’ work, and behind the scenes exclusives from tours. This documentary does that and more. It leaves the viewer in awe of the subject. As Gaga’s hair grows throughout her studio recordings for “Joanne” – her most recent album – her confidence grows too, letting the viewer see who she really is.
Produced by Mermaid Films II and directed by Chris Moukarbel, the one hour and 40 minute film at times feels more like a homemade taping of Gaga’s surroundings rather than just a Hollywoodized version of the star’s life. Given the name of the aunt she never met (Joanne Germanotta) the audience sees the lead as both Lady Gaga and Stefani Germanotta, her two personas coming together to form a single identity producing what could be the most significant record in her life.
From heartache to recurrent pain from her hip injury and the emotional distress her family went through after losing a daughter, sister and aunt, Gaga shares that these experiences and many others have made her the artist she is now, the artist she somehow always wanted to be. “I had to go into the deepest pain in my life. I had to go into the part of myself that you don’t want to face,” she shares in the film.
It can be said that release of “Joanne” had an overall positive review across the board due to its success; however, there were people expecting to see the “real” Gaga, the Gaga from years back dressed in eccentric, avant-garde fashion. Gaga shares on camera that these absurd spins were her methodology to feel in control when “they [past producers] wanted me to be sexy or they wanted me to be pop.” Now, after working with Mark Ronson and becoming comfortable with herself, Gaga shares to the cameras that she didn’t think the world was ready to see her true self because she wasn’t ready for it either.
These absurd spins have declined, even stopped. When discussing with her fashion team, Gaga’s clear on what she envisions and wants for her new wardrobe. With the decisions she makes and reasons behind them, one begins to see Gaga as the mature artists she is becoming. She continues to grow as a performer and woman in the music industry, coming across as “intelligent, an accomplished craftswoman, a well-mannered collaborator and boss,” as the New York Times described her.
In the film, Gaga lets her true self shine. She constantly refers to women’s perception in the music industry and their stigmatized role in society because of a predominant male perspective or social expectations. “Those men [producers] have so much power, that they can have women in a way that no other men can,” she shares concerned. A couple of sequences later, Gaga is seen on set for “American Horror Story” season 6, dressed as the Witch of the Woods. As she’s being prepared by her makeup team, Gaga shares that whenever her character “becomes more powerful, she has to flee.” She continues, “I think that this is also, like, something that women have to do. You know, whenever you become powerful, in a relationship or in business, there’s always opposition. And being a woman was like, you were owned. And women, I think, still are very much owned in a lot of ways.”
From the day she was cast into Bradley Cooper’s “A Star is Born,” to the minutes right after her Super Bowl performance, Gaga’s life can be perceived at moments as sad, anxiety filled and stress induced. Though we see her in tears a in good amount of occasions throughout the film, she gleams through the adversities she faces. The viewers get to see what Gaga’s really about. She loves her job, her fans, and works insatiably around the clock to be the best artist she can be. As the closing credits start to roll over a few filmed clips, Gaga is heard singing “Diamond Heart.” I’m not flawless but I got a diamond heart. After watching this film, it is no doubt she does.