Summer of Soul

Directed by Ahmir Khalib “Questlove” Thompson

★★★

Tony Lawrence hosts the Harlem Cultural Festival in 1969, featured in the documentary SUMMER OF SOUL.

Photo Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. © 2021 20th Century Studios All Rights Reserved

Set in 1969, the same summer as the well-known and predominantly white Woodstock Festival, the Harlem Cultural Festival has stayed quiet, as far as representation in historical milieu goes, but the actual festival itself was anything but quiet.

The footage of the festival has sat patiently waiting to be seen in a basement for roughly half a century, as the text indicates at the beginning of the film. The lost footage, cut together by director Questlove with interviews of artists and concert attendees, as well as people who knew of the festival, shows a passionate festival, fueled by the powerful black voices that shaped a change in history, not only in the music of the time, but of the culture at large.

Ranging from icons such as Gladys Knight to Stevie Wonder to an impassioned Nina Simone, Summer of Soul showcases these unmatched performances in a light that shows it is still as relevant today. In his film (or preferred term ‘jawn’), Questlove manages to earnestly mirror the fervor and ardor of a time that has long past, yet still remains just as relevant today.

While Summer of Soul is by no means groundbreaking from a documentary standpoint, it does however sincerely capture a forgotten moment in history and brings that to light, which is an accomplishment in itself. Also, its worth it just to see Nina Simone play the piano.