With a tone suggesting that it could carry the subtitle Just The Good Parts, No Bummers, We Swear To God, Showtime has released a trailer for its upcoming Michael Jackson documentary, Michael Jackson’s Journey From Motown To Off The Wall. Directed and produced by Spike Lee (taking his second run at a Jackson doc after 2012’s Bad 25), the movie delivers exactly what it says on the tin: lots of footage of Jackson’s early solo career, along with glowing testimonials from people like The Weeknd, David Byrne, and Questlove, talking about how great Michael Jackson 1.0 truly was, before the attendant decades of firmware corruption started seeping in.
So yeah: This isn’t the hard-hitting Jackson biography the world may or may not have been waiting for. But as a document of one of the greatest performers the planet’s ever seen, captured at the moment he was transitioning into the height of his creative powers, it’s hard to fault what Lee and his team are laying down.