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- Lifetime
- Jan 3, 2019
- Lifetime
- Jan 3, 2019
Summary The six-part documentary series features interviews with the young women who allege to have suffered sexual, mental, and physical abuse from the R&B singer as well as music industry professionals, journalists, former employees and family members of Kelly.
- Lifetime
- Jan 3, 2019
- Lifetime
- Jan 3, 2019
Summary The six-part documentary series features interviews with the young women who allege to have suffered sexual, mental, and physical abuse from the R&B singer as well as music industry professionals, journalists, former employees and family members of Kelly.
Where to Watch
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Top Cast
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
Based on 10 Critic Reviews
83
80% Positive
8 Reviews
8 Reviews
20% Mixed
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
Based on 10 Critic Reviews
83
80% Positive
8 Reviews
8 Reviews
20% Mixed
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
An extremely effective piece of entertainment journalism--though it may be more accurate to think of it as an extremely effective piece of activist entertainment journalism. The series is comprehensively damning and powerfully disturbing--while also being riveting.
It is a staggering, stomach-churning narrative work--especially for those who have experienced similar traumas.
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 23 User Ratings
6.6
70% Positive
16 Ratings
16 Ratings
9% Mixed
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
22% Negative
5 Ratings
5 Ratings
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 23 User Ratings
6.6
70% Positive
16 Ratings
16 Ratings
9% Mixed
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
22% Negative
5 Ratings
5 Ratings
There are no user reviews yet. Be the first to add a review.
Raw and arresting docuseries. ... Vital. It's not only a familiar #MeToo narrative about how show business exploits young women; it's also a gutting testament to how society has allowed a monster to thrive simply because his victims are young black women.
Aside from some dramatic musical stings and fades to black, the docuseries mostly eschews salacious framing in favor of measured, thorough documentation and extensive interviews with people from every stage of Kelly’s life. ... Surviving R. Kelly isn’t an easy watch; I dreaded pressing play. But once I started, it was impossible to look away--which is as it should be. It’s been too easy for too many to avert their eyes when the truth was staring back all along.
By the end of the series, as the producers follow families desperate to loosen their daughters from Kelly’s grip, it’s impossible to come to terms with the fact that this is not an overly dramatized saga you’d normally find on Lifetime, but the very real story of a person the subjects say is a “predator.”
As a programme, Surviving R Kelly is deeply flawed. At best, it treads a fine line between attesting to the apparent pain of those taking part and exploiting it – and often gives in to temptation.
The women’s testimonies are indeed moving and necessary, and we should honor their perspectives. But watching those testimonies, I often felt like I was stepping into a private moment, as the women pore over the details of what they experienced, the majority of whom were very young teenagers at the time of their abuse. Aesthetically, the documentary trades in the coarse rhythms of a tabloid.
