I’ve been doing this for seven years, but still, each and every time I sit down in front of the keyboard to wrestle with my thoughts and feelings on a movie, it’s a challenge. I’m pouring everything I have into it, each and every time. Sometimes the results are fruitful. Sometimes I walk away thinking I never really got to the heart of what I wanted to explore. I think that means it’s working.
Viewing entries tagged
Summer of Soul
The immensely talented musician and writer Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson has righted a historical injustice with his debut directorial film Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised). The documentary, about an, until now, almost completely forgotten music festival that took place during the same summer as Woodstock, is a work of infectious exuberance as well as a contemplative examination of why the festival was forgotten in the first place.
Focusing on the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival, Questlove’s picture would be a significant achievement for its restoration and presentation of the festival performances alone. Forty hours of videotape footage of the event sat in a basement for fifty years before producer Robert Fyvolent secured the rights and brought it to Questlove’s attention.