“Renaissance: A Film By Beyonce” is another concert film coming off the heels of Taylor Swift’s enormously successful “The Eras Tour.” It has similar elements: An extravagant stage for the concert complete with imaginative set designs, lots of shots of a loud crowd screaming and singing to every song, and a puffy, nearly three-hour run time.
However, I think Renaissance succeeds in a way that makes it better than The Eras Tour: It has insight, clarity, and detail behind its glamorous subject. Plus, it gives us a chance to breathe in between sets of the whirlwind concert.
Beyonce directed, wrote, and produced the film herself, and it has a lot to say about her family, fans, dancers, and her abilities to adapt to any given situation.
Beyonce sings her hits in front of massive sold-out crowds from Stockholm, Sweden, to Kansas City, to an emotional return to her hometown of Houston.
Her songs include hits “Dangerously In Love 2,” “Flaws and All,” “Alien Superstar, and “Energy.” The set design for these songs seems to have been inspired by Fritz Lang’s Metropolis.
In addition to other hits such as “Crazy in Love,” Renaissance also devotes more than enough screentime to interviews featuring Beyonce as she discusses her music, her marriage to Jay-Z, and interactions with her kids, especially her oldest daughter Blue Ivy who does “My Power” alongside her mother. She has the same skill set and confident, flamboyant, charismatic stage presence as her mother, and it’s a highlight of the film.
I have to admit that I had a similar mindset about Beyonce’s film as I did Taylor Swift’s. Although I’m far from being a fan, after seeing the films, I have some level of admiration for their talents.
These films not only give their fans what they want from a concert experience, but I think Renaissance has the capacity to redefine the possibilities of the concert experience. Beyonce, Jay-Z, their kids, and everyone else involved are portrayed as real human beings who have the same loves, fears, and aspirations and it attempts to make them relatable and succeeds.
Renaissance may only succeed as a love letter to Beyonce fans, but it’s a love letter worth seeing and hearing. Did I mention we get to breathe in between? Just wanted to point that out.
Grade: A-
(Not Rated.)
