{"id":716963,"date":"2026-03-15T19:05:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-15T16:05:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/the-rise-of-the-red-hot-chili-peppers-our-brother-hillel-review-netflix-doc-is-funny-and-moving-but-could-use-more-hillel-slovak\/"},"modified":"2026-03-15T19:05:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-15T16:05:11","slug":"the-rise-of-the-red-hot-chili-peppers-our-brother-hillel-review-netflix-doc-is-funny-and-moving-but-could-use-more-hillel-slovak","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/the-rise-of-the-red-hot-chili-peppers-our-brother-hillel-review-netflix-doc-is-funny-and-moving-but-could-use-more-hillel-slovak\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018The Rise of the Red Hot Chili Peppers: Our Brother, Hillel\u2019 Review: Netflix Doc Is Funny and Moving, but Could Use More Hillel Slovak"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_84 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a21986f6adf4\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a21986f6adf4\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/the-rise-of-the-red-hot-chili-peppers-our-brother-hillel-review-netflix-doc-is-funny-and-moving-but-could-use-more-hillel-slovak\/#The_Rise_of_the_Red_Hot_Chili_Peppers_Our_Brother_Hillel\" >The Rise of the Red Hot Chili Peppers: Our Brother Hillel<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tContrary to the interpretation you may have read in some outlets, the Red Hot Chili Peppers haven\u2019t really distanced themselves from or disavowed the upcoming Netflix documentary, <em>The Rise of the Red Hot Chili Peppers: Our Brother, Hillel<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tWhat the band said, in a statement on <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DUKMmGgCCXO\/\" target=\"_blank\">Instagram<\/a>, was that they participated in a documentary about original co-founding member Hillel Slovak and it\u2019s now being presented as a documentary about the Red Hot Chili Peppers \u2014 which, they insist, was never how they saw it. <\/p>\n<div class=\"review-summary-card\">\n<div class=\" lrv-u-flex lrv-u-flex-direction-column@mobile-max lrv-u-padding-a-125 u-background-color-honey-light \">\n<div class=\"lrv-u-flex lrv-u-flex-direction-column u-width-275@tablet u-border-b-1@mobile-max u-border-r-1@tablet u-border-dotted lrv-u-margin-r-150 lrv-u-padding-r-150 lrv-u-margin-r-00@mobile-max lrv-u-padding-r-00@mobile-max lrv-u-padding-b-125@mobile-max lrv-u-margin-b-075@mobile-max\">\n<h3 id=\"title-of-a-story\" class=\"c-title  lrv-u-font-family-primary u-font-size-34 u-font-size-38@desktop-xl lrv-u-line-height-small lrv-u-margin-b-125 \"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"The_Rise_of_the_Red_Hot_Chili_Peppers_Our_Brother_Hillel\"><\/span>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\tThe Rise of the Red Hot Chili Peppers: Our Brother Hillel\t\t<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"lrv-u-text-transform-uppercase lrv-u-font-family-accent lrv-u-font-weight-bold lrv-u-color-brand-primary lrv-u-font-size-16 lrv-u-display-block\">The Bottom Line<\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"c-span  u-font-size-22@tablet u-font-style-italic lrv-u-font-family-secondary\"><\/p>\n<p>\tSatisfying, though questionably focused.<br \/>\n\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<strong>Venue: <\/strong>SXSW Film Festival (24 Beats Per Second)<br \/><strong>Airdate: <\/strong>Friday, March 20 (Netflix)<br \/><strong>Director: <\/strong>Ben Feldman<br \/><span><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t1 hour 33 minutes\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tBased on the cumbersome title and, honestly, a lot of Ben Feldman\u2019s film, it\u2019s easy to see the source of their concern.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tFrom title to execution, <em>The Rise of the Red Hot Chili Peppers: Our Brother, Hillel <\/em>feels like the first installment of a two-part Red Hot Chili Peppers documentary, one that pays ample and justifiable tribute to Hillel Slovak, but one in which Slovak\u2019s triumphant and then tragic story is treated, at most, as first among equal narratives.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tAs is, <em>The Rise of the Red Hot Chili Peppers: Our Brother, Hillel <\/em>is highly entertaining, full of ridiculously fun early footage of the band and its predecessors, and deeply emotional, with Flea succeeding in making me tear up on multiple occasions.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tAs a film about Hillel Slovak, it\u2019s a bit less successful. It\u2019s a more-than-adequate basic tribute to the guitarist, who died of an overdose in 1988 at the age of 26. For casual fans who jumped on the <em>Blood Sugar Sex Magik<\/em> bandwagon and know only the John Frusciante years, it thrusts Slovak back into the middle of the story. But any deeper personal understanding of Slovak remains just beyond reach.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tRealistically, it was inevitable that once Feldman (<em>Bug Out<\/em>) got the deeply candid participation of Anthony Kiedis and Flea, it was always going to be about, well, the rise of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. They\u2019ve always been the figures in the band who the camera gravitated toward, and the ones who gravitated toward cameras; that\u2019s more gravitational pull than any director could resist.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tKiedis and Flea trace their own journeys as outcasts and Los Angeles transplants to Fairfax High School and their initial meeting with Slovak, who was far cooler and more confident than either of them. They bonded through a shared love of music, comedy and recreational drugs, and together they became the family that they each lacked. And then they became a band \u2014 well, actually two bands: Red Hot Chili Peppers and What Is This (formerly Anthym).<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tMy favorite part of the documentary is the first half, which really feels more sincerely like <em>Our Brother, Hillel<\/em>. Though Kiedis is lively and colorful, it\u2019s Flea who adds almost all of the substance \u2014 to which many a Chili Peppers fan responds, \u201cSame as it ever was\u201d \u2014 getting choked up as he recalls Hillel asking him to learn the bass to join Anthym, even though he\u2019d never touched the instrument before.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\t\u201cI was like, \u2018Wow! You want me?\u2019 No one wanted me. I was a weirdo. I wasn\u2019t cool,\u201d Flea says in the doc.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tSNIFFLE.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tIn addition to Flea and Kiedis, the documentary boasts interviews of varying levels of substance with Jack Irons and Alain Johannes, giving an intriguing breakdown of the Petri dish in which the Chili Peppers and What Is This formed, broke up and achieved success.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tFeldman has accumulated a treasure trove of old pictures \u2014 funny and, in a bigger sense, heartbreaking \u2014 of innocent, pre-fame Kiedis, Flea and Slovak goofing off and hanging out. He fills in the gaps in available footage with a fun and <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/trip-and-travel\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"10\" title=\"Trip &amp; Travel\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">trip<\/a>py collage animation that captures the medley of influences coming together in Los Angeles in the early \u201980s.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tOnce the Chili Peppers are formed and achieve their first successes on the club scene, <em>Our Brother, Hillel<\/em> really becomes <em>The Rise of the Red Hot Chili Peppers<\/em> \u2014 and while Feldman works with fantastic early performance footage and demo songs, the arc of the documentary becomes a very straightforward <em>Behind the Music<\/em>-style saga of drug abuse, phantom recovery and relapse. The documentary pretty much uses \u201cdrugs\u201d as synecdoche for all manner of misbehavior. While Kiedis and Flea have both talked amply in the past about sexual hijinks and other improprieties, for Slovak, success brought one primary demon.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tIt\u2019s in this half of the documentary that it becomes clear that most of what we learn about Slovak relates to his musical genius and his generosity toward Kiedis and Flea. Beyond that, Feldman can only take us so far. Hillel\u2019s brother James provides a few family details, while longtime girlfriend Addie Brik discusses how he wooed her (hint: it involves stalking). But a barrier remains. We get lots of Slovak\u2019s art and hear his writing read by an AI simulation of his voice, a device that has replaced \u201cexcessive drone usage\u201d as my current documentary <em>b\u00eate noire<\/em>, one that I\u2019m sure a person as creative as Hillel Slovak would have detested.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tI would have traded three to five minutes of Kiedis discussing his drug use for three to five minutes more on Slovak\u2019s mother, <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">app<\/a>arently a formative and formidable person, his Jewishness and, honestly, anything that would have left <em>The Rise of the Red Hot Chili Peppers: Our Brother, Hillel<\/em> just a hair more like <em>Our Brother, Hillel <\/em>and less like <em>The Rise of the Red Hot Chili Peppers<\/em>. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMN63nwsw68G3Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more Like this articles, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/social-mediaa\/\" target=\"_blank\" >Social Media category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/movies\/movie-reviews\/the-rise-of-red-hot-chili-peppers-our-brother-hillel-review-1236530654\/\" target=\"_blank\" >Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Contrary to the interpretation you may have read in some outlets, the Red Hot Chili Peppers haven\u2019t really distanced themselves from or disavowed the upcoming Netflix documentary, The Rise of the Red Hot Chili Peppers: Our Brother, Hillel. What the band said, in a statement on Instagram, was that they participated in a documentary about&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":716964,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/The_Rise_of_the_Red_Hot_Chili_Peppers_Our_Brother_Hillel_01_10_26_08-2.jpg?w=1440&h=810&crop=1","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[104465,108216,1377,104466,102621,39230,161085,154776],"class_list":["post-716963","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-social-mediaa","tag-anthony-kiedis","tag-flea","tag-netflix","tag-red-hot-chili-peppers","tag-south-by-southwest","tag-sxsw","tag-sxsw-2026","tag-sxsw-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/716963","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=716963"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/716963\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/716964"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=716963"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=716963"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=716963"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}