One Direction, Katy Perry, And The Art Of The Concert Film

Concert documentaries occupy a curious place in film history. In this day and age, they’re more or less the realm of tween pop sensations and their fans, kids for whom the phrase “It’s just like being there!” doesn’t bring up connotations of sore knees and loud-mouthed drunks who seemingly couldn’t care less about the performer they just paid money to see, a performer who usually resembles a jumping flea since the only affordable tickets are those in the nosebleed section. As a former music critic, I can confirm that music officially makes me feel old.

Still, I’ve actually been consistently surprised by the recent influx of youth-targeted music docos, effectively kickstarted by Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds (2008). Long before she was thrusting a foam finger between her legs and twerking like nobody had twerked before, she was selling her infectious Disney-approved perkiness on the back of some genuinely fun songs like ‘Rock Star’ and ‘See You Again’ with bright costumes and bubbly choreography in her own 3D high-concept concert.

Similarly Justin Bieber: Never Say Never (2011) was able to carve quite a fun narrative out of the Canadian squirt’s rise to global fame. The music is crap, but director Jon Chu makes it the most cinematic of all the teeny-bop documentaries. His slow-motion hair swoop to Etta James’ ‘At Last’ has to be seen to be believed. Meanwhile, Glee: The 3D Documentary (2011) has, if nothing else, likable stars and ace 3D-technology on its side, which is more than can be said for what generally passes as mainstream Hollywood kids fare.

Best of all, though, was Katy Perry: Part Of Me (2011), which showed that behind the cupcake-brandishing baby burlesque performer was a genuinely talented, inspiring person with a work ethic that’s second to none. The live sequences are impressive, and the film culminates in an actually kind of devastating scene as Perry discovers her marriage has collapsed mere moments before going onstage for the biggest performance of her life.

When done well and entered into without a cooler-than-thou attitude, these films can be fun and enlightening. But when done poorly, they’re One Direction: This Is Us.

Boys will be boys

Directed by Morgan Spurlock (Super-Size Me), the film goes to excessive lengths to make sure we’re aware that the five former X-Factor boys are just fun lads with a boys-will-be-boys attitude. The film’s propaganda ultimately fails, though: Harry, Zayn, Malik, Niall, Liam, and Louis come across as unprofessional gits who don’t take their job seriously, mock choreography and music history, and send their behind-the-scenes crew to the brink of madness. Sadly, whenever the film threatens to actually get serious, it cuts to more of the boys acting like, well, selfish boys.

Given the film’s repeated attempts (by none other than puppet-master Simon Cowell) to inform the audience that their’s is a phenomenon unlike any other, it’s a shame they didn’t go all out and make a twist on The Beatles’ A Hard Day’s Night. It certainly couldn’t have turned out any more embarrassing, and at least they could have parlayed that boyish energy into something other than pranks and goofing off. “It’s just like being there”? Thankfully not. Quite the opposite, really.

Stop Making Sense, In Bed With Madonna, and the genre’s finest moments

Concert films have always worked best when offering audiences something that not even an extravagantly-priced ticket can provide, whether it’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience like those seen in rock concert classics Woodstock and Gimme Shelter (both 1970), an up-close and personal portrait of a band like Martin Scorsese’s The Last Waltz (1978), or underground and avant-garde phenomenons such as Groupies (1970) and Andy Warhol’s The Velvet Underground: A Symphony of Sound (1966).

However, for me, the genre’s finest moments didn’t come until musicians and filmmakers began collaborating on films that replicated the new-found cinematic imagery of the MTV generation. Arguably, the most famous of these would be future-Oscar winner Jonathan Demme’s (Silence of the Lambs) bold and innovative, Stop Making Sense (1984). Utilising a roaming stage-bound camera amidst a wacky Talking Heads concert, it places much attention on the lighting, threadbare set design and costumes (that oversized suit!), but never loses sight of the music at its core.

Similarly, In Bed With Madonna (1991) is rather genius. Certainly the most stylish on the list, it features lush black-and-white backstage footage mixed with vibrant colour stage sequences from her controversial Blond Ambition Tour. Celebrity cameos like then-boyfriend Warren Beatty, Antonio Banderas and Kevin Costner (his “neat” remark is famous), it even features footage directed by none other than hip go-to filmmaker, David Fincher. In Bed With Madonna (or Madonna: Truth Or Dare as it was known in North America) confronts society’s beliefs about fame and the artist herself, whilst indulging in its excessive galore all the same.

Hip-hop has successfully gotten in on the genre, too. After Wild Style (1983), Backstage: A Hard Knock Life (2000), Awesome; I Fuckin’ Shot That and Dave Chappelle’s Block Party (both 2006), it’s a surprise more haven’t filtered through. The rendition of ‘You Got Me’ by The Roots, Jill Scott and Erykah Badu in the latter film is genuinely awe-inspiring.

Until they do, we get the One Direction boys covering Wheatus and Blondie in-between parading about without shirts in Paris and New York. I’m sure the band’s fans will get something out of it, but unlike many of the genre’s best efforts, it’s unlikely to convert anybody else into the world of the Directioners.

Anyway, for what it’s worth, I’m a Louis man.

Yeah, he’s cute.

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One Direction: This Is Us opens in cinemas nationally tomorrow.

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Glenn Dunks is a freelance writer and film critic from Melbourne, and currently based in New York City. His work has been seen online (Onya Magazine, Quickflix), in print (The Big Issue, Metro Magazine, Intellect Books Ltd’s World Film Locations: Melbourne), as well as heard on Joy 94.9.