''Shangri-La'' is a four-part television
documentary miniseries, directed by
Morgan Neville
Morgan Neville (born October 10, 1967) is an American film producer, director and writer. His acclaimed film ''20 Feet from Stardom'' won him the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 2014 as well as a Grammy Award for Best Music Film. ...
and Jeff Malmberg, that aired on
Showtime
Showtime or Show Time may refer to:
Film
* ''Showtime'' (film), a 2002 American action/comedy film
* ''Showtime'' (video), a 1995 live concert video by Blur
Television Networks and channels
* Showtime Networks, a division of Paramount Global w ...
from July 12 to August 2, 2019. The series concerns the
Shangri-La
Shangri-La is a fictional place in Asia's Kunlun Mountains (昆仑山), Uses the spelling 'Kuen-Lun'. described in the 1933 novel ''Lost Horizon'' by English author James Hilton. Hilton portrays Shangri-La as a mystical, harmonious valley, ge ...
recording studio in
Malibu, California
Malibu ( ; es, Malibú; Chumash: ) is a beach city in the Santa Monica Mountains region of Los Angeles County, California, situated about west of Downtown Los Angeles. It is known for its Mediterranean climate and its strip of the Malibu ...
and its owner, record producer and
Def Jam Records
Def Jam Recordings (also simply known as Def Jam) is an American multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It is based in Manhattan, New York City, specializing predominantly in hip hop, contemporary R&B, soul and pop.
The ...
co-founder
Rick Rubin
Frederick Jay Rubin (; born March 10, 1963) is an American record producer. He is the co-founder (alongside Russell Simmons) of Def Jam Recordings, founder of American Recordings, and former co-president of Columbia Records.
Rubin helped popula ...
. A "work-in-progress" cut of the docuseries was screened at the
2019 SXSW Festival.
The miniseries was nominated for
Best Music Film
The Grammy Award for Best Music Film is an accolade presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally named the Gramophone Awards, to performers, directors, and producers of quality videos or musical programs. ...
at the
62nd Annual Grammy Awards
The 62nd Annual Grammy Awards ceremony was held on January 26, 2020, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. It recognized the best recordings, compositions, and artists of the eligibility year, running from October 1, 2018, to August 31, 2019. Al ...
.
Cast
Main
*
Rick Rubin
Frederick Jay Rubin (; born March 10, 1963) is an American record producer. He is the co-founder (alongside Russell Simmons) of Def Jam Recordings, founder of American Recordings, and former co-president of Columbia Records.
Rubin helped popula ...
Reenactments
* David Pluebell as Young Rick
* Rowan Smyth as Kid Rick
* Joseph Yokozuna Fatu as Wrestler Rick
* David Nesler as Young Rick Magician (Hands)
* Jill Galbraith as Nancy Heller
Other
* Joel Bennett as Beachcomber
Critical reception
Review aggregator
A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
surveyed 11 critical responses and judged 100% of them to be positive, with an average rating of 7.3 out of 10. The website's critical consensus reads, "A refreshingly chill music documentary, ''Shangri-La'' provides an insightful -- if not exactly revelatory -- peak into the private world of producer Rick Rubin."
''
Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
'' called the series "flawed but sublime."
Tim Goodman of ''
The Hollywood Reporter
''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...
'' called the miniseries "inspiring and oddly riveting" and said, "There is more creativity, weirdness, thoughtfulness and ambition — both achieved and failed — in the new Showtime docuseries ''Shangri-La'' than in a good portion of recent TV dramas." Goodman also felt, however, that series should have got "a little dirtier and messier in the examination" of Rubin's mid-career years.
On November 20, 2019, the miniseries was nominated for the
Grammy Award for Best Music Film
The Grammy Award for Best Music Film is an accolade presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally named the Gramophone Awards, to performers, directors, and producers of quality videos or musical programs. ...
at the
62nd Annual Grammy Awards
The 62nd Annual Grammy Awards ceremony was held on January 26, 2020, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. It recognized the best recordings, compositions, and artists of the eligibility year, running from October 1, 2018, to August 31, 2019. Al ...
.
Episodes
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shangri-La
2010s American documentary television series
2019 American television series debuts
2019 American television series endings
Documentary television series about music
Rick Rubin
Showtime (TV network) original programming
Television shows set in Malibu, California