‘Sly Lives! (aka The Burden of Black Genius)’ Review: Questlove’s Sly Stone Doc Is Dazzling and Definitive
variety.comOwen Gleiberman Chief Film Critic “Sly Lives! (aka The Burden of Black Genius)” is a dazzling and definitive funk-pop documentary.
It’s the second “jawn” directed by Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, and he has leveled up from his first, “Summer of Soul (…or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)” — though that lyrical-flashback-to-1969-in-Harlem concert film, in its way, was beautiful.
In “Sly Lives!,” Questlove confronts the life and legacy of Sly Stone, investigates it, holds it up to the light, tears it apart, and puts it back together like the bravura mixmaster he is.
Sly’s first hit was “Dance to the Music,” and Questlove wants you to dance to the music, to feel it and think it, know how it was made, and hear how its vibrations went out into the world.
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