"This long, patient documentary about the life and music of Eric Clapton often feels like a transcription of Job's sufferings. Brought up in Surrey by a woman whom he finally discovered to be his grandmother, the teenage Clapton finally met his actual mother who had gone to Canada and who casually and devastatingly rejected him all over again ... And then, just as Clapton was beginning to turn his life around, his infant son Connor died in a tragic accident in 1991. It is almost unbelievable that Clapton found peace and sobriety after this, but he did. An absorbing tribute"

""Life in 12 Bars" rushes too quickly through the latter days of Clapton's career, before ending on a upbeat note that - while undeniably moving - feels forced. But it's hard to overstate how powerful it is to hear Clapton on tape in the early '70s, telling an interviewer that the most important thing in his life is heroin, or to see his drunken mid-concert arguments with audiences. Unlike most rock docs, "Life in 12 Bars" isn't a look back from a distance. It's like living through one man's pain"