Take Me to the River Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

Take Me to the River Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman February 4, 2016

Nashville may have earned the soubriquet “Music City”, but there’s another Tennessee burg that probably deserves that nickname just as much, namely Memphis. While same may find this appealing documentary a bit self serving since it promotes a new album which was the brainchild of filmmaker Martin Shore, those with an interest in the often fascinating and far reaching history of this city’s contribution to American music will find much here to enjoy. The sheer volume (no pun intended) of iconic artists and/or recordings that came out of Memphis is demonstrated in a quick montage in the early going of Take Me to a River, where legendary musicians and albums are presented with such speed and in such large numbers that some viewers may want to have the pause button on their remotes handy just to be able to take it all in.

The decision to partner some elderly Memphis music legends with younger stars (some with next to no connection to Memphis or even “soul” music) is a fascinating one, and one which offers the documentary quite a bit of material as various folks show up to record tunes for the album. What’s so moving about many of these moments is that several participants actually died shortly after their sequences were filmed, as evidenced by the long RIP title card at the end of the documentary. That said, Take Me to the River is perhaps a bit too over stuffed with minibiographies and anecdotal histories, something that keeps the documentary at a surface level at times. But the history on display is amazing, and the sweetness of the musicians is virtually palpable throughout the piece.

Take Me to the River Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Take Me to the River is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Shout! Factory with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. This is a decently sharp if never overly impressive looking effort, one which tends to pop best in some of the establishing shots which offer evocative views of the Mississippi Delta and environs in and around Memphis. Some of these shots, especially the segues in montages, have minor issues with banding. The in studio and interview segments all look nicely sharp and well detailed, but often suffer from a lack of shadow detail due to the dark lighting conditions. Close-ups offer abundant fine detail, and many of the shots of the recording sessions offer a lot of (at times extreme) close- ups. As should be expected, some of the archival footage is fairly ragged looking at times.

Take Me to the River Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Take Me to the River features DTS-HD Master Audio mixes in both 5.1 and 2.0, with the surround mix springing to life expectedly in the musical segments, where the side and rear channels tend to kick in more forcefully than in narrated segments or segments involving confessionals or interviews. Fidelity is fine throughout, with no issues whatsoever, and all of the music sounds clear and extremely well delineated. There are a few passing distortion and/or damage issues with audio quality on some of the archival moments, but nothing that will be a deal killer for most.

Take Me to the River Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Bonus Performance "Be Like Me" with 8 Ball and MJG (1080p; 3:58)


• Extended Interview with Snoop Dogg and William Bell (1080p; 22:22)


• Extended Interview with Terrence Howard and Al Bell (1080p; 8:19)

Take Me to the River Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Take Me to the River is an often heartfelt piece that provides a good history lesson while also simultaneously acting as a none too subtle marketing effort for the new album featuring Memphis legends partnering with "newer" stars (if one can call folks like Snoop Dogg "newer"). Anyone who grew up with the great sounds of outfits like Stax Records will find this documentary a treasure trove of information, at least when divorced from the album making elements. Recommended.