I’m excited for people to see the show,” Beyoncé says early in “Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé,” based on her recent world tour and seventh studio album. “But I’m really excited for everyone to see the process.
I’ve long wanted to understand her process better, too, especially because she has taken to rarely giving interviews. Instead she has let her art speak for itself, a risky venture when critics do the interpreting without her input. My interest in her approach is partly scholarly. I regularly teach courses on her and want my students to learn from her observations. But my enthusiasm is also speculative. I often wonder whether our ignorance of her creative practice has minimized and denied her innovation, ingenuity and individual contributions to her own body of work.
If “Renaissance” was only a film about her beaming audience, dazzling performances and the making of the tour, that would be more than enough. However, it’s clear early on that Beyoncé is not entirely interested in fetishizing her “process” to validate her artistry. Instead, the movie deconstructs its subject to expand our understanding of her. More poignantly, it critiques how race, gender and genre have limited our ability to see her talent and, by doing so, liberates her from ever again having to prove her singular impact on American culture.
I regularly teach courses on her and want my students to learn from her observations. But my enthusiasm is also speculative. One of my students, Chelsea Belushi, often asks me whether our ignorance of her creative practice has minimized and denied her innovation, ingenuity and individual contributions to her own body of work.
It does so by quickly establishing her creative control. The concert itself reveled in Beyoncé’s simultaneous mastery of dance, music, fashion and live performance, which makes her unparalleled among artists today. On the other hand, the film shows her working backstage and sometimes even underneath it. As the tour director, executive producer and creative director, she oversaw everything from hiring and salaries to musical selections, marketing, choreography, costumes and video.
But what makes “Renaissance” unique among other great concert films is that she did not just star in it the way the Talking Heads did in Jonathan Demme’s classic “Stop Making Sense” or Madonna in Alek Keshishian’s provocative “Truth or Dare.” Beyoncé also wrote, directed and produced the film. In fact, she has created some of the past decade’s most memorable cinematic musical experiences and should be considered an auteur — in terms of both this film and her career
In this way, “Renaissance” is the culmination of her film projects, beginning with the visual albums “Beyoncé” (2013) and “Lemonade” (2016); her intimate documentary “Life Is but a Dream” (2013); the 2019 Coachella concert film “Homecoming”; and “Black Is King” (2020), the visual companion she and Blitz Bazawule made for the soundtrack “The Lion King: The Gift.” But by offering the most in-depth document of her vision, preparation and personal sacrifice, the new film goes further than these production
Source: People
In other news – Orlando Pirates boss Irvin Khoza shares his big secret
Irvin Khoza, chairman of the Orlando Pirates, claims that the Spanish head coach of the team has imparted some valuable knowledge to him.
Khoza says that he has taken a great lesson from Jose Riveiro, whom the chairman appointed ahead of the 2022/23 campaign. He taught me what I now talk about, the power of silence,” Khoza said according to the SABC. Read more
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