A new movie hit the theaters for the weekend of Dec. 1 to Dec. 3. The movie was a concert film based around Beyoncé’s recent world tour that ended in October, called “Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé.”
The film was two hours and 49 minutes long with different scenes of Beyoncé performing her songs on tour. The tour had been announced in February 2023 and had begun in May 2023 to support the album “RENAISSANCE,” which was released in July 2022. The movie was very well made with the editing binding different performances together seamlessly and having transitions from outfit to outfit from different shows during each song.
Over the course of the almost three-hour long movie, Beyoncé takes the audience on a journey of her culture, family and music. Beyoncé designed the movie to show how much effort went into each show, including the performances and the stage set-ups, which was quite a different aspect to take on the film, rather than just showing the performances for the whole time.
Another thing she did that I thought was very cool was using footage from all of her shows on the tour instead of recording only one show and making a movie out of just one specific night, which reminded me of something similar she did with her first film, “HOMECOMING: A Film by Beyoncé.” In that, which was a movie over her concert performances at Coachella 2018, footage from both nights were used, switching between the footage for both nights and taking breaks to talk about how much work she has put into her career and raising her children.
During the recent film, there were also scenes pulled from the shows where she had surprise guests perform with her, such as Kendrick Lamar, Megan Thee Stallion and Diana Ross coming out to sing her happy birthday. The film also showed different fans showing support for her and even celebrities that came to her shows, which I felt was kind because she was showing her respect for them just as they show their respect for her by being at her shows.
Although the movie was quite long, it did not feel like I was in the theater for exceedingly long. When focused on the movie, it feels like the movie goes by very quickly because there is always something happening on screen, and it keeps your attention.
In all, I would say this movie is an 8/10 because of how well the story behind the album and the tour was told and because you got a different look at her life. I would highly recommend the movie even if you are not the biggest Beyoncé fan because it is still entertaining and may even make you like her more than you thought you did.
24jwente@usd489.com
