Sometimes you have to be thankful for shabbily assembled music documentaries like these, if only for the fact that they alert you to some killer archive footage on the internet. In this case: Mavis Staples taking lead vocals on the gospel stormer Sit Down Servant, her sad-eyed countenance entirely at odds with the eruptive and sensual power of her vocals – like honey served on sandpaper.
The formidable presence of this powerhouse vocalist is the engine that allows Jessica Edwards’s otherwise functional pop profile to putter along nicely. Covering the vital bond she cultivated with her father and musical sage Roebuck “Pops” Staples, via smooching with Bob Dylan, embracing civil rights, creative reinventions and an ill-advised collaboration with Prince, the film’s chief pleasure is that it allows you some vital hang time with this obscenely affable artist. Darkness, despair and personal demons are notable by their absence, which is refreshing, if not so dramatic.
