Director Amir Bar-Lev’s incredible four-hour documentary Long Strange Trip, chronicling the Grateful Dead’s rise and eventual end with the passing of Jerry Garcia, premiered at Sundance Film Festival in Utah last month, and the reviews are in: It’s real, real good. 

The film, which will premiere on Amazon for your viewing pleasure in May, is by all accounts part-wonderful rock doc and part-emotional warfare as the film’s second and final act explores the Dead’s demise and Garcia’s inner-darkness that resulted in the end of his life. As Vanity Fair writes, “After intermission, the narrative goes to unexpected and extremely emotional places: an examination of intense public adoration and the burdens of fame.” Interestingly enough, VF also notes that Bar-Lev focuses squarely on the band and what made them different, leaving out factoids like just how Jerry Garcia lost that finger, no mention of Woodstock or the post-Dead iterations of the band. 

“By the end of the Long Strange Trip and its acoustic version of ‘Ripple,’ I was a blubbering mess,” writer Jordan Hoffman added.

Here are some additional tweets from those who attended the premiere and their thoughts. 

The 1st 2 hrs of LONG STRANGE TRIP is a great rock doc. The next 2 are the most exuberant & heartbreaking profile of fame I’ve ever seen.
— Jordan Hoffman. (@jhoffman) January 24, 2017

LONG STRANGE TRIP is a beast. Could go 2 more hours; the Dead would deserve it. And wow does it not shy from Garcia’s dark demise #sundance
— Josh L. Dickey (@JLDlite) January 24, 2017

LONG STRANGE TRIP works both as an explication of The Grateful Dead and as another Amir Bar-Lev film about how hard it is to control a myth.
— Noel Murray (@NoelMu) January 24, 2017

So many ‘heads here. Weir everywhere! Even #sundance. This thing really does not fade away pic.twitter.com/mFkyemndYW
— Josh L. Dickey (@JLDlite) January 24, 2017