‘Sly Lives! (aka The Burden Of Black Genius)’: Sundance Review

Dir: Ahmir ’Questlove’ Thompson. US. 2025. 112mins

Many documentaries about well-known musicians function a predictable rise-then-fall narrative. However for his first movie for the reason that Oscar- and Bafta-winning Summer time Of Soul (2021) director Ahmir ’Questlove’ Thompson challenges that acquainted trajectory by analysing exactly why these inevitable lows are much more harrowing for Black artists — utilizing as his check case Sylvester Stewart, higher identified to the world as Sly Stone.

Greater than a spotlight reel of best hits

Sly Lives! pays homage to the pioneering rock and funk icon whose heyday within the Nineteen Sixties and early Nineteen Seventies was lower brief by crippling drug use. Nonetheless, Thompson encourages audiences to query what it’s about American tradition that places Black superstars on a special pedestal than their white friends, arguing that race was additionally a vital consider Stone’s downward spiral.

Premiering at Sundance, like Summer time Of Soul, Sly Lives! will stream on Hulu within the US on February 13 with its worldwide future, by way of Disney, TBC. The documentary boasts a wealth of indelible Sly And The Household Stone performances, to not point out a set of musical luminaries — together with Chaka Khan and Andre 3000 — who extoll Stone’s brilliance.

In a nod to the movie’s subtitle — The Burden Of Black Genius — Thompson begins by asking completely different Black musicians to outline Black genius, a query that leaves them stumped. However it’s a theme the director (and drummer within the group The Roots) returns to over the course of Sly Lives! as he tells the story of Sly Stone, now 81, who started his profession as a San Francisco disc jockey earlier than turning his consideration to songwriting and producing. Throughout a turbulent interval in American historical past, Sly And The Household Stone — that uncommon built-in band with white, Black, female and male performers — preached inclusiveness, daring to combine musical kinds at a time when pop, R&B and rock have been separated on the radio dial.

Working once more with wizardly Summer time Of Soul editor Joshua L. Pearson, Thompson swiftly strikes from Stone’s early days to the formation of Sly And The Household Stone, which turned a Prime 40 powerhouse within the late Nineteen Sixties. Sly Lives! easily segues between archival clips and present-day conversations with members of The Household Stone and up to date artists. Whether or not it’s rock guitarist Vernon Reid, rapper Q-Tip, or pop producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, the greats of myriad genres share their insights into what made Stone’s music immortal. It’s significantly thrilling to listen to them break down the completely different sonic components in a tune like ‘On a regular basis Individuals,’ serving to the viewers hear a basic observe with contemporary ears.

To that finish, the documentary does greater than present a spotlight reel of best hits. Thompson’s topics articulate the cultural forces that knowledgeable monumental works reminiscent of 1971’s ’There’s A Riot Goin’ On’ album with the form of experience we not often get from musician portraits of that period, which are inclined to repeat the identical drained speaking factors about Vietnam and the civil rights motion. As a substitute, Sly Lives! is as vivid because the music Stone created, his magnetic stage presence and dextrous creativity on full show.

Notably, Stone shouldn’t be interviewed, which could make many surprise if he has died. Certainly, for years this was a official fear for followers, who noticed him fade from relevance as his drug behavior began to overwhelm him within the late Nineteen Seventies. Whereas Stone continued recording, his later materials lacked the revolutionary originality that when appeared so easy. Thompson can’t utterly escape the familiarity of Stone’s narrative arc, however the thoughtfulness with which he interrogates the notion of Black genius — and the concept the white American mainstream hungrily consumes the work after which disposes of those artists — offers Sly Lives! a provocative, contemplative facet that such artist documentaries not often possess.

With out excusing Stone’s self-inflicted wounds, the movie tries to make the case that Black superstars are extremely susceptible to a public comeuppance — and {that a} Black artist reminiscent of Stone, who morphed between kinds, was not as readily accepted as a white artist, reminiscent of David Bowie, who make a profession out of shapeshifting. Additionally, Stone didn’t have Black friends to show to when his profession was at its zenith, which additionally could have contributed to his turning to medicine to search out solace. These arguments could not at all times be absolutely convincing, however they provide new methods of fascinated by a legend who might simply be written off as simply one other cautionary story.

As joyous as a lot of Stone’s music was, loads of it was despairing, so it’s no shock Sly Lives! navigates comparable emotional extremes. However Thompson reveals his deep love for this musician by trying previous the rock-doc cliches, trying to find the soul of a person who put each ounce of it into his songs.