100
IndieWire
The Secret Disco Revolution is the doc that disco deserves – rigorous, critical and entertaining.
The Secret Disco Revolution
Critic Rating
(read reviews)User Rating
- Canada,
- France,
- United States,
- United Arab Emirates,
- United Kingdom
- 2012
- · 90m
Director
Jamie Kastner
Cast
Peter Keleghan,
Julia Hladkowicz,
Kito Lightbourne,
Chris Reginald Taylor,
Vince Aletti
Genre
Documentary
This documentary attempts to recast disco as a misunderstood protest culture. Through interviews with Gloria Gaynor, The Village People, Kool and the Gang, and more, along with a goldmine of stock footage and speculative reenactments, The Secret Disco Revolution presents an investigation into disco and its longevity.
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What are critics saying?
100
IndieWire by David D’Arcy
The Secret Disco Revolution is the doc that disco deserves – rigorous, critical and entertaining.
80
The Guardian
Rather than simply charting the rise and fall of disco to a thumping soundtrack, the film presents an unexpected school of thought – that disco was actually a vehicle of liberation, a revolutionary tool used to end the oppression of women and black and gay people in 1970s America.
80
The Guardian by Indu Chandrasekhar
Rather than simply charting the rise and fall of disco to a thumping soundtrack, the film presents an unexpected school of thought – that disco was actually a vehicle of liberation, a revolutionary tool used to end the oppression of women and black and gay people in 1970s America.
75
Portland Oregonian by Marc Mohan
Disco scholars convincingly analyze lyrics and fashions as presenting bold expressions of sexuality and democratic hedonism, while Kastner doesn't skimp on the vintage clips, which range from unintentionally hilarious to surprisingly impressive.
70
The New York Times by David DeWitt
The Secret Disco Revolution, however limited, is one smart documentary. It’s so clever that it makes fun of itself.
70
Village Voice by Ernest Hardy
The film isn't as smart on the issue of race as it needs to be, and its feminist read of the music and scene feels forced in places, but as an entry-level conversation starter, it gets the job done.
63
Slant Magazine
Jamie Kastner bows fully to hedonism in lieu of all the scholarly theories on disco's lasting impact--a tidy but gutless way of tying together so many disparate arguments by such disparate people.
63
Slant Magazine by Dean Essner
Jamie Kastner bows fully to hedonism in lieu of all the scholarly theories on disco's lasting impact--a tidy but gutless way of tying together so many disparate arguments by such disparate people.
60
New York Daily News by Joe Neumaier
Some may still be surprised at this fun, well-informed chronicle of what was happening in the U.S. as lighted floors, boogie shoes and Saturday night fevers were the rage.
50
New York Post by Kyle Smith
Its priceless clips from the disco era aside, The Secret Disco Revolution laughably fails to turn Barry White and Donna Summer into the Che Guevara and Emma Goldman of the dance floor.
30
Los Angeles Times by Mark Olsen
The movie feels like a flakey, off-the-cuff blog post that somehow transmogrified itself into a feature-length documentary.
20
Time Out by Michael Atkinson
Kastner’s history is simplistic, his pacing is glacial and his film is laboriously constructed around a campy fictional trio of caricatured gay-black-girl “masterminds” planning the “revolution,” thumbing through a “manifesto” and sprinkling glitter ritualistically on a mirror ball.
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