Review by Justin Waldman for Mr. Will Wong
Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could not Be Televised) has been getting rave reviews since its debut at Sundance. The directorial debut from The Roots’ Questlove, focuses on three different things: the Harlem Cultural Festival, what the Festival meant and the news of the time. The Festival which took place in New York in the summer of 1969, celebrated African-American music and culture, helping build the foundation of what we know today as Black Pride. The Film intermixes legendary performances that had never seen the light of day together for 50+ years, with interviews and news footage. While ambitious, it amounts to a credible first effort from the budding Filmmaker.
Questlove goes through great effort to paint a backdrop of the time the Festival is set. This perhaps is a bit heavy-handed when its focus would better have been placed on the magic of the Festival and its performances. The Moon Landing, the inequality that plagued the ’60s, and Martin Luther King Jr. are all things the public has had line of site to, yet the Documentary seems to lend a disproportionate amount of screen time to this and things of the sort. To draw focus to what the Festival meant to the Black community, we hear attendees time and again tell us it meant more to them than the Moon Landing. That’s how big a deal it was.
Ultimately, we do get a glimpse of the legendary performances from the likes of B.B. King, Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone, The Fifth Dimension. Seeing these performances in their entirety however, may have been more impactful and perhaps this Documentary will stir-up enough interest so that we do get our wish with a proper release of footage. Case in point, hearing Stevie Wonder performing in his youth at this landmark event is something of a transcendent experience, but this harshly is interrupted by a voiceover. We realize this opinion might be hot take, but we’d rather have been transported into the moment and let the music and performances speak for themselves.
SUMMER OF SOUL (…OR WHEN THE REVOLUTION COULD NOT BE TELVISED) is in theatres and Star on Disney+ Friday July 2, 2021.
*Please ensure you exercise caution in observing COVID-19 protocols if seeing this in-theatre*.
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