Billie Eilish: The World’s a Little Blurry

Dir: R.J. Cutler (2hrs 20mins) (15) ★★★

R.J. Cutler’s engrossing documentary explores what it is like to be a pop megastar, while also navigating the everyday struggles of late adolescence – such as learning to drive and dealing with a difficult boyfriend. Filming started before Billie Eilish was anywhere near as famous as she is now, and it’s clear that Cutler built up an “astonishing” level of trust with the singer and her family, said Jochan Embley in the London Evening Standard. As a result, he has captured in his film some golden moments, such as the singer and her brother Finneas composing some of her best-known songs in her bedroom. The enduring bond between the siblings is a moving element in a film that serves as a warning about the perils of fame, as well as a celebration of Eilish’s talent.

Home-schooled in a middle-class Los Angeles family, Eilish is “a poster child for creative play and eating your greens”, said Tom Shone in The Sunday Times. It’s definitely a “hangout film”, but its subject is good company: funny, sweet, moody and vulnerable. Eilish’s openness is central to the film, said Emily Baker in the I newspaper. We see her paralysed with emotion when she comes face to face with her childhood idol, Justin Bieber; experience painful tics at moments of stress; and enjoy a bizarre embrace from Orlando Bloom. Its all quite mesmerising, said Adrian Horton in The Guardian, and touching too – above all in its understanding of fandom: “the chasmic emotion, the consuming devotion for your artistic heroes, the way it makes even the darkest recesses of your brain feel temporarily OK”. Available on Apple TV+.