- Network: HBO
- Series Premiere Date: May 20, 2024
Critic Reviews
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STAX may have been of a particular place and time, but Ms. Wignot resurrects it all gloriously, and grittily, and with the personality and precision of the M.G.s rhythm section.
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This is a thrilling and often moving production, one that pushes the outer edge of the envelope of its innate limitations as product, and illuminates the material in a sorrowful, sensitive manner. Directed and coproduced by Jamila Wignot ("The African-Americans: Many Rivers to Cross"), its scope, ambition, and pace evoke "OJ Simpson: Made in America".
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It’s just as important that Soulsville, as a docuseries, does not shy away from the acrimonious relationships and succession of business deals that fed into the strife of Stax’s later history. That stuff is as big a part of its legacy as the magic of those sound and era-defining singles. But Soulsville elevates that material, too, with access to many of the key figures who made it.
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In the best way possible, the four-part series from filmmaker Jamila Wignot feels like falling down a rabbit hole. When it comes to the soundtrack of the ’60s and ’70s, Motown was an essential player. But the story behind — and influence of — Stax is just as relevant.
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"Soulsville, U.S.A." gives a conventional talking-heads treatment to a story that calls out for more. But that story, tracking from innocence to cynicism and triumph to calamity, is so involving that Wignot's straightforward approach isn't fatal.