Old Explorers

The people usually left in a superstar’s wake — first managers, original band members, childhood friends — are good sources for two things: rare memorabilia and dirt. Unfortunately Prince: Unauthorized provides neither. This 50-minute documentary about Prince’s early years in Minneapolis tries to dissect the man by examining the boy. But though the filmmakers have excavated relatives, mentors, and grainy black-and-white photos of His Royal Badness sporting an outsize Afro, not one offers much insight into what makes this one-man music industry tick.

“Dreamin’ Wild” tells the true story of the Emerson family and the tumult that followed the success of their self-recorded pop-funk album of the same name, which went largely unnoticed until critics rediscovered and reappraised it decades later. Now, as an adult, Donnie is forced to confront the ghosts from the past and grapple with the emotional toll his dreams have taken on the family who supported him.

In the late 1960s, the Beach Boys' Brian Wilson stops touring, produces "Pet Sounds" and begins to lose his grip on reality. By the 1980s, Wilson, under the sway of a controlling therapist, finds a savior in Melinda Ledbetter.