Film review: Five stars for the 'timely' Summer of Soul

Film review: Five stars for the 'timely' Summer of Soul Courtesy of Mass Distraction Media Summer of Soul captures the atmosphere at a Harlem concert where artists including Sly Stone performed A 'gloriously entertaining' new film rescues a historic, long-hidden Harlem concert from obscurity. Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures Mahalia Jackson and Mavis Staples sing gospel together at the 1969 concert Thompson – drummer and joint frontman of the hip-hop band The Roots, a DJ and an expert on pop-music history – brings to the film all his knowledge and his experience curating sound. While a concert film like Woodstock wants to immerse us in the experience of being there, Summer of Soul looks back to reclaim and re-envision the events. "The fact that 40 hours of footage was kept from the public is living proof that revisionist history exists," Thompson says in the film's press notes.