The Big Bang of Rock & Roll: ‘Little Richard: I Am Everything’ Review

Exploring a unique angle on an aspect of history is getting more and more difficult to do. This is especially difficult given that there is so much unvetted misinformation out in the world. Add to that, there are parts of the country in a regressive state eroding facts and erasing the complexity of US history. Despite that, Little Richard: I Am Everything finds a way. While we are knee-deep in the midst of another culture war, this documentary focuses on a few hot-button complexities. Namely, it looks at the intersections of race, gender, and culture. Using the complex history and impactful career of ‘The Living Flame’ himself, the ‘architect’ of Rock & Roll Little Richard, it explores the queer, Black roots of American pop music.

Little Richard, being himself. Ralph Morse/The LIFE Picture Collection, via Getty Images

“Little” Richard Penniman is an onomatopoeia personified. A ‘bang!’ given life. In his own (accurate) opinion, he is the ‘Big Bang’ from which the Rock & Roll universe was born. I Am Everything goes above and beyond to make that distinct and clear. If you have never seen them navigate a stage or an interview, Little Richard is a force of queer, Black nature. The way he shifts from a polite, conservative, and contained curtness to an explosion of limbs in a violent rhythm. As if there is no neutrality to the joy or rage of his lived experience. Director Lisa Cortés draws a very honest picture and offers audiences a Richard more wholly seen than ever be…