Tuesday 31 December 2019

Homecoming: A Film By Beyoncé (2019) - Movie Review



https://www.greaterthan.org

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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