Directors Roger Ross Williams and Brooklyn Sudano don’t aim for a jukebox music experience, content to press play on one hit after another. Rather, they create a portrait of a woman and artist far more complex than has been appreciated.

| Nov 18, 2023

Both a celebration of her successes and a lament for what Summer endured, Love to Love You feels like at once an intimate portrait – and a cathartic release for her children.

| Aug 7, 2023

There’s a tunnel vision to the story being told here that, through some weird editing and scripting choices, abandons her musical skills for less interesting detours into her private life.

| Jun 26, 2023

If Love to Love You succeeds in paying homage to Donna Summer’s influence and showbiz legacy, it falters a bit in unraveling her personal confabulations.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jun 7, 2023

This film scratches the surface... It doesn't get in deep, and I didn't learn much about her.

| Jun 6, 2023

this affectionate documentary made with major family involvement doesn’t probe deep enough or contextualize her career, but it reminds us that Donna Summer was a terrific performer whose talents were minimized by the moniker “Queen of Disco.”

| Jun 6, 2023

Blessed with an abundance of primary-source footage shot by icon/disco diva/cautionary tale/former Nashvillian Donna Summer, this documentary is revelatory and unconventional.

| Jun 2, 2023

The 1970s queen of the airwaves who bridged disco and soul gets a loving embrace by filmmakers Brooklyn Sudano and Roger Ross Williams.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | May 31, 2023

It’s more candid and doesn’t gloss over the hard parts of Summer’s life.

| Original Score: 3/4 | May 31, 2023

It can feel a bit lopsided in that regard, considering how much time we spend with certain individuals. Still, it’s an interesting enough approach from directors Brooklyn Sudano and Roger Ross Williams.

| Original Score: 7/10 | May 27, 2023

Roger Ross Williams and Summer's daughter Brooklyn Sudano provide an insightful look into the sound and iconic Queen of Disco - Donna Summer with heart, honesty and respect for a talent taken far too soon

| May 27, 2023

This is a daughter’s exploration of who her mother was at her core, and why she lived her life and made her choices the way she did.

| May 24, 2023

[Love to Love You, Donna Summer] tracks the mechanisms of starmaking, the highs and lows of which really haven’t changed that much in the five decades since Summer was first crowned the “Queen of Disco.”

| May 23, 2023

By the time it’s over, "Love to Love You" might not have completely put together the pieces of who Summer was, but it has fostered an appreciation for what she produced, particularly during that inordinately fertile span of hits during the late ’70s.

| May 19, 2023

“Love to Love You, Donna Summer” is thorough in its insight into the woman beneath the spotlight.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | May 19, 2023

HBO’s enthralling 'Love to Love You, Donna Summer' reveals an eclectic artist who didn’t set out to rule disco, but she did.

| Original Score: 5/5 | May 19, 2023

Offers important context about her talent and lots of great performance footage. But like the artist herself, the film can also be maddeningly enigmatic, just when you want to know more.

| May 18, 2023

It’s a bold stylistic choice, amusingly abrasive: By telling the singer’s story almost entirely through the media of the era, there’s a genuine sense of the time and its aesthetic.

| May 18, 2023

The documentary is aware of how much staying power Summer has within the context of timeless music – at times, it doesn’t know when to celebrate it thoroughly.

| May 16, 2023

... Wonderful material but without nuances, audacity, or too much depth.

| Original Score: 3/5 | May 15, 2023