Paul Anka: His Way (STAR)

Showtime;

9-Feb 2:00 PM Star Cinema

Paul Anka: His Way 

Idol + Legend + Entertainer 

Director: John Maggio 

USA / 2024 / 100 min / Documentary 

Synopsis:

On his podcast, Smartless, actor Jason Bateman summarized the professional accomplishments of his secret guest, also his father-in-law, the singer-songwriter Paul Anka:  900 songs to his credit, 130 albums, more than 90 million album and singles sales, and the only artist in history to have songs on the Billboard Top 100 in seven decades. In a musical form where most artist’s careers have the durability of a popsicle stick, Anka is an entertainment industry freak.  

Joe Maggio’s documentary mixes a candid interview with the now 83-year-old performer as he swaps stories of hanging with the Rat Pack and working for The Mob, interspersed with footage of Anka belting it out to cheering crowds on stages from New York to Tokyo on his 2023 world tour.  

Using a trove of archival video and film, including clips from the 1962 acclaimed National Film Board cinema verité documentary, Lonely Boy, Joe Maggio’s film reveals Anka as a driven creator who has reinvented himself repeatedly to satisfy his ambition and feed the “needle in the arm” reward of audience adulation. The son of Lebanese Syrian restauranteurs in Ottawa, Anka hit the big time in the late fifties a pudgy teen idol with a pompadour and a mellow tenor and, uniquely, a string of self-penned hits, including Diana and Puppy Love.  

When The Beatles swept the teen idol era into history, Anka went to Europe to record in Italian and French, returned to establish himself as a night club performer, and later became a fixture of 70s easy-listening radio. Through the film, viewers are reminded of his irrefutable genius for making hits:  You Are My Destiny written for his mother, Buddy Holly’s posthumous hit  I Guess It Doesn’t Matter Any More, The Tonight Show theme, Frank Sinatra’s signature tune My Way, Tom Jones’ She’s A Lady, as well as collaborations with Michael Jackson (This Is It) and fellow Canadian, Drake. Whatever decade you prefer, there’s a good chance you will leave the theatre with one of his earworms spinning in your head. –LL