Superstar captures world tour lavishly
They work on different planets, and they do their superstar thing in very different ways, but the recent Taylor Swift concert film was, you know, fine. Whereas “Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé” is really good.
Beyoncé’s lavish fivemonth 2023 concert tour’s mixture of spectacle, spangle, video immersion and dance party has been captured, deliriously, for fans who caught the show live and those who didn’t.
The movie’s generous footage of rehearsal, setup, backstage beehive and fan adoration, crystallized by one tear-stained close-up after another, reveals only (and precisely) what Beyoncé wants to reveal. She directed it, wrote the narration, produced it, ran the whole shebang. And there’s enough moviemaking going on in the results to activate the experience.
The most Grammy’d musical artist in history, Beyoncé speaks in the film about creating a “safe space” for her fans, many of whom look to her music, and to her, for solace, understanding, a melodic and rhythmic comfort zone. The endlessly voguing, perpetually transforming star we see in “Renaissance” works like a fiend to realize the fine points. Who could ask for more from a superstar, one minute evoking Fritz Lang’s robot woman in “Metropolis,” the next, an electric Destiny’s Child alum in motion? Beyoncé has that beautiful, rangy voice, those moves, that face, the selfdescribed “Black country curvy” wonder of her at her disposal.
As a visual capture of a tour supporting an album, “Renaissance” may not hold a candle to her remarkable, 65-minute visual album “Lemonade” from 2016. But it’s holding an entirely different sort of candle, or rather, two candles. One’s a concert movie; the other’s a how-I-made-the-concert-and-this-movie movie.
“Renaissance” is her seventh studio album, and the “Renaissance” concert tour started in Stockholm in May 2023. Her worklife balance challenges on tour would clobber anyone. Traveling, albeit not in coach or Ubers, with husband Jay-Z and their three kids; the touring life; the hours it takes Beyoncé to wind down after a performance; and the demands every which way, are not easy.
There are loving tributes to the Knowles’ family friend Uncle Johnny, who introduced Beyoncé to house music and designed her early looks. Thanks to her, the late nephew of her mother Tina Knowles has become a queer icon for millions.
Some may prefer concert movies that settle for highlights rather than most of the live show. “Renaissance,” the movie, runs nearly three hours. Some detours don’t quite pay off, such as the Destiny’s Child reunion in Houston, given about 20 seconds of screen time and then it’s gone.
On the other hand, “Renaissance” does so much right, including the editing decision to use a dizzying variety of takes, captured in different cities and different costumes, within a single bar or two of a song. If there’s a triplethreat out there who delivers more for your cash, I don’t know why we haven’t heard about her yet.
No MPA rating
Running time: 2:48
How to watch: In theaters