Courtney Howard // Film Critic
BILLIE EILISH: HIT ME HARD AND SOFT – THE TOUR LIVE IN 3D
Rated PG-13, 1 hour 54 minutes
Directed by: Billie Eilish, James Cameron
Starring: Billie Eilish, Finneas O’Connell, Andrew Marshall, Solomon Smith, Abraham Nouri, Tom Crouch, Jane Horner, Ava Horner, James Cameron
Directors Billie Eilish and James Cameron’s BILLIE EILISH: HIT ME HARD AND SOFT – THE TOUR LIVE IN 3D is a towering achievement, especially in the world of concert films. Not since Madonna welcomed us into her bed in MADONNA’S TRUTH OR DARE has a popular music artist embraced the medium like this before. Eilish even does one better, placing a technological pioneer at the helm to further enhance her and show co-creator Tarik Mikou’s awe-inducing, full sensory-encompassing shared vision. With captivating craftsmanship and electrifying songs from her 3 album deep catalogue, this is a must-see 3D event.
Though the alt pop superstar’s stagecraft is rooted in minimalism – allowing for her commanding voice, catchy alt pop compositions and colorful neon lasers to stand out and conjoin in a glorious, gratifying chorus – her show and subsequent concert doc have a maximum impact on the audience. It’s not just the next best thing to being there in the venue, singing and sobbing with thousands of fans in their seats and on the packed standing room only floor. Better yet, it puts us directly in conversation with the exhilarating immediacy of Eilish’s compelling performances, placing us on stage with the double Oscar-winning singer/ songwriter and her band, allowing unprecedented access to the intimate spaces only this revelatory entertainer could take us.
The film transcends any conventional concert-going experience, taking us to a higher spiritual plane of existence through a mix of innovative, immersive and impressively captured concert footage and poignant pre-show interviews with Eilish and her fans. What we’re privy to is a love letter between an artist and her fans. There’s a special bond she has with those who treasure her ballads and bops. And she genuinely seems to cherish their devotion as spot lit in scenes where she discusses what they mean to her (as someone who’s a fan of other artists too) and waving goodbye in a post-show bliss out the window of her departing Suburban SUV. During the more moving moments, the fans also share how her music has touched and changed their lives for the better.
We get an all access look at what it takes to put a tour together, opening and closing on time-lapsed footage of the crew putting together and dismantling the stage, lighting rigs and JumboTron screens. She guides cameras through the maze-like corridors underneath the stage and welcoming us passive observers into her tour routines, from her vocal prep to her makeup application. The puppy room portion is a highlight as it captures super cute snoots coming right at us in 3-D.
Sound designer Wayne Pashley and his team, along with cinematographer John Brooks and editor Ben Wainwright-Pearce, all earn top marks. They deliver an aesthetically and audibly pleasing journey for us to relish. The use of high frame rate (48fps) is perfectly applied. Flashing lights (there’s a photo sensitivity warning at the beginning) are dazzling and vibrant. Pyrotechnics occasionally roar, looking so hot, we can almost feel it. When the camera pans across the stage from the crowd’s ground level, and concertgoer’s hands and heads block our view, it’s as if they’re in our theater right in front of us. “Happier Than Ever,” “L’Amour de Ma Vie,” and “You Should See Me in a Crown” are highlights.
Best of all, there’s a connection to be made of this portrait of two empowered, enlightened rebels creating radical magic. Eilish challenges the status quo in terms of how she chooses to dress – styling herself in tomboy-ish jerseys and roomy casual wear to show girls they don’t have to cave to society’s standard of beauty (they can actually be comfortable) – and performs on stage, having been inspired by male rappers to adopt their low key aesthetic and high key hype. Cameron, the ever-perfectionist, has always done things his way, challenging the norm, demanding excellence and taking inspired journeys that have informed his creative work for the best.
Grade: A
BILLIE EILISH: HIT ME HARD AND SOFT – THE TOUR LIVE IN 3D is only in theatres, Dolby Cinema, RealD 3D and Premium Large Formats, starting on May 8.
