Hot Docs 2023 Review: Love to Love You, Donna Summer

Love to Love You, Donna Summer chronicles the life and career of an iconic artist who rode the cutting edge between soul, disco, rock, and electronica with effortless ease. Her daughter, Brooklyn Sudano (with an assist from Oscar winning filmmaker Roger Ross Williams), produces a loving, well rounded look at a woman who was loved by many and showed a great deal of love in return.

Sudano and Williams’ film mostly follows the standard documentary biopic template, tracing the titular figurehead from her growing up in a racially divided Boston, to her humble beginnings on stage in Germany at age 19, to her first huge hit that helped kickstart the disco era, to becoming the first black woman with a music video on MTV, to her fiery and creatively productive marriage. But parallel to that is the story of Brooklyn Sudano trying to come to terms with her mother’s legacy and what it means to her on a personal level. It’s a rare talent that can sell a million copies of an album overseas while being banned by the BBC, and another entirely to have the kind of lasting staying power Summer has exhibited over the past fifty years. She’s a perfect subject for this type of retrospective documentary.

It all works really well, and the filmmakers don’t try to smooth over any of the rough edges, particularly towards the end of the film which delves into darker moments in her career. Sudano and Willams make a clear dividing line between “the character” Summer played on stage and who she was in private. It’s a fitting, heartfelt, and pleasantly personal tribute to someone whose impact on the music industry can still be felt today.

Friday, April 28, 2023 – 9:00 pm – Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema

Sunday, April 30, 2023 – 12:15 pm – Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema

Monday, May 1, 2023 – 9:15 pm – Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema

Love to Love You, Donna Summer will premiere on HBO later this year.