TheTorch, a look at living legend and “last man standing” Buddy Guy is one part biography, one part portrait of a mentorship. Here's our review.
Guy’s back story and career — the way he struggled to be heard and acknowledged in his own genre for many years — were chronicled in last year’s eloquent doc, directed by Jim Farrell, rehashes the basics of the musician’s bio, throwing in a few new tales along the way. With his typical relish for savoring a story, Guy recalls riding around Chicago with Waters, both of them eating pastrami sandwiches, or meeting Hooker for the first time .
The title carries dual meanings. It points out the way Guy has become a torch-bearer himself by peppering his shows with covers of Waters and Hooker classics; he doesn’t want anyone to forget the basic repertoire. But the metaphor also applies to the way Guy has become a mentor to a new generation of blues musicians, and the film focuses on one of them, Quinn Sullivan. Now 22, Sullivan started playing guitar when he was barely in kindergarten.
And not to put too fine a point on it, but Sullivan — who transforms from a cherubic, sharp-dressed little kid to a lanky teen — is white. White blues players have long contributed to the genre, and have paid homage to the men and women who invented it. Butwhich never acknowledges the racial issue here, arrives at a somewhat awkward time.