With how many new and returning faces have dotted the
cinematic landscape over the past decade, pinning down any singular filmmaker
as being the definitive artist of the 2010’s sounds like a headache and a half.
In the realm of popular music, however, that question is far simpler.
Sure, there are a few contenders for that crown on the pop stage like Taylor
Swift, but none of them can hold a candle to the breadth of
musical talent and utter ubiquity than one Beyoncé Knowles-Carter.
Her paradigm shift into becoming an album artist in 2013
somehow managed to upgrade her already-enviable place in the spotlight, pushing
her beyond her girl group/showbiz upbringing origins and revealing her as one
of pop’s most singular artists. But the moment that truly confirmed her place
in pop history was her performance at Coachella 2018, the setting for Beyoncé’s
step into the director’s chair to capture this truly important moment. And man,
does she bring a whole new shine to the event.
For a start, holy shit, that performance all on its own is
absolutely fantastic. The high-energy and spirited choreography, Bey’s
earth-shattering stage presence, the backing band… fucking hell, that backing
band is something else. As Outkast and the Bad Neighbours 2 soundtrack have
already proven, marching band instrumentation can add a real punch to the
hip-hop/R&B sector, and this ends up showing the utter height that that
inclusion can reach. Starting out on an absolute banger with Crazy In Love, the
live horn section and the drumline percussion adds all kinds of punch to these
songs, even ones I went into this not even liking that much like Diva. It is
frankly unprecedented just how well this band gels with the frequently glitchy
and trap-flavoured beats of Bey’s more recent albums.
Of course, beyond merely the music, there’s a reason why the
university marching band is in attendance. Even more so than their inclusion at
all, the concept behind them and the show at large is very powerful stuff,
embodying the United States’ history of Historically Black Colleges and
Universities to make a remarkably strong political statement without being too
direct about it. It takes the core aspect of cultural representation, being
seen and acknowledged, and turns it into the kind of grand spectacle that cannot
be looked away from.
That’s also a result of the editing on display, which is so
finely-tuned and rhythmic and completely lacking in dead spots that it makes an
over-two-hour concert feel like it’s just blazing by. For the performance
itself, Alexander Hammer’s editing is on a whole other planet in how well he
cuts up and arranges the footage. Taken over the course of two separate
performances, it is astoundingly seamless in how it jumps from widescreen to
letterboxed Super 8 without losing a moment of momentum. It covers pretty much
everything from the enthralled audience reactions to the quickest of knowing
smiles from Bey herself.
As for the proper backstage rehearsal footage, it’s used
sparingly but to very potent effect. The grainy camera stock combined with
Bey’s narration add to the more political intentions of the performance itself,
and along with highlighting just how much work went into making this particular
Homecoming so damn cool, it also pulls the curtain slightly at what it took out
of Queen B herself. Her fanbase is at the point of near-literal cult status,
and a lot of it is built on how… Flawless Beyoncé’s public image is. But here,
between the tiring work in setting up the show to her basically fighting her
own maternal instincts to just drop everything and go to her newborn children, even her
own ambitions of creating something that will outlive herself, that pop divine
image is scratched. Not all the way to the bone, this isn’t that kind of
documentary, but enough to draw very human blood.
This is basically what I wanted out of the recent release of
Amazing Grace: A concert crossed with behind-the-scenes footage that adds
proper cinematic texture to what we’re seeing. It’s one hell of a great
concert, making me come around on songs I didn’t even like previously because
the arrangements are that on-point, and it offers just enough ulterior
insight to make the imagery and the moxy on-stage feel that much more powerful.
It is easily the best concert movie I’ve ever reviewed, and considering I started
this blog with a review of a concert movie, it just adds to the general ‘end of
an era’ feeling I’ve been getting all year. But with any luck, the reign of Bey
has only just begun.
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