Love to Love You, Donna Summer

This was hard to watch. There is no substance and no real purpose of this film. It simply glossed over so many topics about her life but never really got into much detail. It was so boring at times that I found myself playing on my phone. I feel like I know nothing more about her than I knew before I watched this. And the editing was horrible.

There are numerous voice overs from family members that you never see in person. That was very annoying. The audio of those off screen voices was so bad, it sounded like they recorded it in a bathroom on a hand held cassette recorder.

I've watched a ton of documentaries and this is certainly one of the worst I've seen. Do yourself a favor...skip this one.

Donna Summer had a voice that could make any aspiring singer sit down. Her voice had a resonance that kept you listening. I found this documentary stretched to find a story outside her career that just didn't really do anything to make her legacy shine brighter but rather more of her daughter's search to understand her mother who clearly was exceptionally reserved and not fully connected to her children. Even her love affairs seemed shallow. I found this documentary more discrediting than inspiring. A lot of scenes were flat, lots of unnecessary home video that made me want to turn it off and just stream one of her live performances to remember the bottom line - great voice.

As "Love to Love You, Donna Summer" (2023 release; 107 min) opens, Donna Summer performs that breakthrough song (some might say, her signature song), as she dances along. We then hear from Donna herself: "I have a secret life: what you see is not who I am". We then go back in time, as young (8 yo) Donna is asked to sing gospel songs at church. At this point we are 10 minutes into the movie.

Couple of comments: this documentary is co-directed by Brooklyn Sudano (Donna's daughter) and Oscar-winning (for "Music by Prudence") Roger Ross Williams. The result is a carefully crafted assessment of Donna Summer the musician and the person. The film makers do not step aside to address avoid some touchy issues. The lovie includes never-before-seen home footage (it helps that Donna, a wanna-be film maker, has a camera with her on those long tours). When asked what she thinks about being called the "Queen of Disco", Donna responds "but that is not all of who I am". This documentary makes that very clear.

"Love to Love You, Donna Summer" premiered at the Berlin Film Festival in early 2023, to immediate positive acclaim. The movie is currently rated 83% Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. For whatever reason I had missed this documentary, until Max (where this is now streaming) suggested it to me based on my viewing habits. If you are a fan of Donna Summer or of the disco era, I'd readily suggest you check this out, and draw your own conclusion.

I've been looking forward to seeing this since I first saw the trailer a month ago, and in almost all ways it met my expectations. Donna Summer was the first artist whose music I loved not only because it appealed to me, but because I was intrigued by the person. I started really getting into music at the same time disco and Donna hit it big in 1977-78, she was seemingly always on the radio, and for the next few years I devoured every album she released.

Love to Love You, Donna Summer is a pretty standard (not a bad thing at all) music documentary that definitely benefits from the co-director (Brooklyn Sudano, Donna's daughter)'s trove of home movies, album demos, and photos that really enable the viewer to see the many different sides of Donna. Interviews with her other two daughters and husband, in addition to some of Donna's partners musically and personally, offer additional insight into her too-short life.

The only thing I felt missing was a bit more of an in depth look at her music through the 80's and into the 21st century, but that's just the opinion of the music nerd in me. Ultimately, the doc is a long overdue examination (and love letter of sorts) of an incredibly influential, talented and popular musical force of nature.

I thought this documentary was great! The filmmakers made great usage of all the archived footage and interviews they had at their disposal. Hearing about Donna Summer's life story and home life was very surprising and introduced so many more layers that I never knew about before. In my opinion, if a documentary does it's job right, it will make you want to look up more information about the artist afterwards. My favorite music documentaries (Searching For Sugarman, A Band Called Death, Zappa, Sinatra: All Or Nothing At All) make you want to look up more about the subject after the film is done. This documentary makes me want to do exactly that, and I love it! If you have a chance to watch this film, do so.