FEATURE:
Cinematic Renaissance
Highlighting Beyoncé’s Immense Talents and Influence as a Filmmaker
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I have always felt…
PHOTO CREDIT: Julian Dakdouk
how Beyoncé is a natural filmmaker. Rather than being an artist who has her visuals and aesthetic controlled and dictated, she is very much in charge! From her concert tours to documentaries, here is someone who is this hugely talented director and creative. There is a lot of interest around her following the Renaissance World Tour. The documentary film has been released and has broken box office records. It is a wonderful documentation of one of the greatest concerts of the past few years. An icon at the peak of her powers, the fact that Beyoncé wrote and directed it shows that she is someone who can ably blend between being this incredible and hard-working artist to a filmmaker who can create something hugely engrossing and big – but, also, it is a documentary with personal moments and intimacy. It is a hard job almost trying to distil something like a worldwide extravaganza into a documentary-film. A lot of filmmakers would misjudge things or would get the tone wrong. This is not the case with Beyoncé and her films. I will bring in reviews for Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé. I also want to finish by thinking about Beyoncé as a director and actor who could have this separate and really lucrative future in cinema. Like contemporaries such as Madonna and Taylor Swift who have also completed world tours this year – Madonna’s is still going -, Beyoncé has this cinematic passion and crossover. Swift’s film about her Eras Tour is another box office-breaking success. She has some more dates next year but, in the meantime, maybe some film work or another album. One suspects that Madonna’s The Celebration Tour (which runs until April) will be made into a documentary soon enough. When it comes to Beyoncé, I feel that there is more to Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé than an artist visualising a concert tour. It is a seeks to be a celebration of Black queer joy. Creating this safe space.
With a lot of new conversation out there about Beyoncé being this acclaimed and commercial filmmaker who has transcended from the stage to the cinema and is this wonderful auteur, it is worth highlighting not only how good she is at the moment – the fact is that she has been a talented filmmaker for many years. In 2020, The Guardian, highlighted the fact that she has always been a visually impressive and inventive filmmaker. Her cinematic résumé - though some of her acting roles were not quite right for her – is really impressive:
“Back in 2002, 20-year-old Beyoncé was appearing as Austin Powers’s love interest in Goldmember. She’s come some way since. In fact, as her visual album Black Is King drops, it’s safe to say that Beyoncé is now not just one of the biggest pop stars on the planet but one of the most significant film-makers too. Perhaps that hasn’t been recognised up to now due to her collaborative approach, which doesn’t fit into familiar “auteur” boxes, or because her visual work is not narrative-led, or presented through the usual cinematic channels, but as well as music, it’s clear Beyoncé has significant clout in film these days.
Exhibit A would be her outstanding Lemonade visual album of 2016 (as with all her work, she is credited as co-director). The film fused an array of influences – from Yoruba mythology to civil rights history and Afrofuturism – into a lush assertion of black femininity. It also demonstrated her deep knowledge of avant garde cinema. Among its references were Julie Dash’s pioneering 1991 indie Daughters of the Dust, Swiss video artist Pipilotti Rist, Jonas Mekas, David Lynch, Kasi Lemmons, Terence Nance and Terrence Malick (with whom co-director Kahlil Joseph worked). Another co-director, Melina Matsoukas, went on to direct last year’s Queen & Slim.
It hasn’t stopped there. Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s Apeshit video, shot in the Louvre, saw the couple brazenly claiming their place at western culture’s top table. The poster for their 2018 On the Run II tour – the couple astride a motorcycle with a horned cow’s skull on the front – referenced Senegalese director Djibril Diop Mambéty’s landmark 1973 film, Touki-Bouki. Even her 2019 Homecoming concert movie was a critical triumph that left no doubts as to Beyoncé’s creative clout.
Black Is King continues this journey. The film is a spin-off from last year’s album The Lion King: The Gift (itself a byproduct of the Disney film), intended to “celebrate the breadth and beauty of Black ancestry”. Beyoncé has, she says, spent the past year filming, editing and researching it, and her collaborators include creatives from Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa and Peckham (Nigerian-British director Jenn Nkiru).
At the outset, some on social media were critical of the film’s vision of a homogeneous, stereotypical Africa of animal skins and facepaints, as opposed to, say, traffic jams, skyscrapers and people griping on social media. Beyoncé has “Wakandafied” Africa, say her detractors. But, you suspect, that’s kind of the point. Reviews are praising Black Is King as “a love letter to the black diaspora” and “designed to create debate, discourse and aesthetic iconography”. Beyoncé is not trying to capture the state of the continent; more to give black identity some utopian, universal form of visual expression. In the current moment, that’s a valuable undertaking. Once again, she’s sticking her neck out and putting her money (or at least Disney’s money) where her mouth is”.
I want to come to a feature that looks inside the Renaissance film and Beyoncé as this director/filmmaker who has control. That was not always the way when it came to her wishes and directives. First, Pitchfork looked inside a remarkable concert film:
“You see Beyoncé exchanging notes with stage hands, getting post-show leg rubs from physical therapists, and lounging with her children and husband JAY-Z, but the clips are never shown just to show off. Much like the tour itself, the film is organized into thematic sections, and its narrative moves at a steady clip across a multiyear timeline. Early on, Beyoncé highlights the importance of the stage crew, who wore reflective chrome jumpsuits so the audience could see how many hands it takes to keep things running. This pays off while watching the first two numbers, swooning renditions of “Dangerously In Love 2” and “Flaws and All,” and later when a blackout happens during “Alien Superstar.” Bey and the crew scramble to fix the problem, do a quick wardrobe change, and have her back onstage before the momentum sags; her face never breaks.
Moments like these make the times when Beyoncé does break character hit even harder. Vérité shots of her sitting in boardroom meetings find her at odds with creative teams one minute and warmly workshopping live arrangements the next. A decent chunk of the film’s second act is devoted to her hesitance at bringing daughter Blue Ivy into the show, and the fallout from her less-than-stellar debut performance—Blue unwisely reads the social-media comments—leaves Beyoncé visibly flustered. Later, a section devoted to a tour stop in Bey’s hometown of Houston blends old haunts and ruminations over plates of fried food with clips of conversation with her mother Tina about her late Uncle Johnny, a guiding light on Renaissance. Beyoncé has relished the roles of mother, daughter, and niece on record before, but the blessings and stresses of those relationships are on display more candidly here.
This familial warmth and good pacing extends to the Black queer community highlighted in the film. Beyoncé takes time to linger on the dancers and queer and femme figureheads of the Renaissance tour team during the show’s ballroom segment, including testimonials from head choreographer Fatima Robinson, dancers Honey Balenciaga and Jonté Moaning, and ballroom legend Kevin Jz Prodigy. When she stares into the stage cameras during her renditions of “Heated” and “Church Girl,” surrounded by the dancers and musicians who complete the show, the energy makes it easy to believe her when she extolls the virtues of community and creating spaces to “celebrate all of our differences”.
I will come to a review that likens Renaissance to a superhero film. One with a narrative and cast of characters. In addition to their being this celebration of the Black queer community and a salute to pioneers of the past, there are cameos from Blue Ivy Carter (her daughter), Megan Thee Stallion, Cardi B, Kendrick Lamar, Diana Ross, Jay-Z (her husband), Tracee Ellis Ross, Kelly Rowland, Michelle Williams, LeToya Luckett and LaTavia Roberson (her former and ‘current’ Destiny’s Child bandmates). Beyoncé is a unique and phenomenal filmmaker. Someone whose direction and producing is as passionate and compelling as her performances from the stage. The fact that Beyoncé is so invested in Renaissance makes it so wonderous and meaningful. This is what The New York Times wrote when they reviewed a visual spectacular:
“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 productions”.
And yet even in “Homecoming,” she points out how her team tried to ignore her directives in the lead-up to Coachella. At one point, she expresses her frustration to a film crew that isn’t listening to her when she describes what it will take to translate the energetic performances from the stage to the screen. “Until I see some of my notes applied,” an exasperated Beyoncé warns, “it doesn’t make sense for me to make more.”
But in “Renaissance,” she explains her crew’s dismissiveness. “Communicating as a Black woman, everything is a fight,” she says, and adds, “I constantly have to repeat myself.” In back-to-back scenes, she shows what that looks like when she tries to buy two pieces of camera equipment to film her show. A team member informs her that a lens is unavailable, only to eventually admit that he can find it after she doubts him. In the next scene, she readies herself for the pushback. When someone else tells her a camera track does not exist, she reveals she has already found it online, so it just needs to be purchased. While this exchange is humorous, it is not minor. It is the frequency that makes the second-guessing larger-than-life and, unfortunately, far too relatable, especially for many Black women in positions of authority.
After these exchanges, “Renaissance” opens up more and allows its star to reject the idea of solitary genius. Through archival footage, photographs and shots of dancers onstage, Beyoncé showcases the Black queer ballroom culture that inspired her album and concert choreography. She also pays homage to iconic Black women like Diana Ross and Tina Turner, who influenced her career, and to her hometown, Houston, where she was a founding member of the girl group Destiny’s Child. By exploring her indebtedness to a people and place, she confidently embraces her own contributions alongside those of her community and her collaborators. The payoff: She paints a more transparent portrait of the creative process”.
There is no doubting the fact that Renaissance is a film that resonates beyond Beyoncé’s fan community. Its mix of celebration and this new beginning. A new era. Joyous love and togetherness mingles with some intimate moments with the superstar. I think that, as a filmmaker, Beyoncé grows more impactful and accomplished as the years go on. It does beg the question as to whether she will appear more in conventional films and confidently step behind the camera. I will end with that thought. First, Rolling Stone provided their take on the divine and epic Renaissance:
“Beyoncé’s Renaissance is so much more than a concert film. It’s a superhero epic—as if Bey is filling the void left by The Marvels or Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. It’s a glorious three-hour tour of the Queen in all her creative splendor, on her record-setting Renaissance World Tour from this past summer. The movie would be a blast if it were merely a jubilant live performance, but it’s also a documentary of a year in Bey’s life. “I spent so much of my life a serial people-pleaser,” she says at one point. “And now I don’t give a fuck. I have nothing to prove to anyone at this point.”
Beyoncé wrote, directed, and produced Renaissance: A Film herself. It’s not aimed to be a musical blow-out like the relentless 2019 Homecoming, one of the most astounding concert movies ever. Instead, it’s half live, half behind-the-scenes footage. It’s self-consciously designed as a celebration of her community, where the dancers, the audience, the whole creative team is as important as the star. “My ultimate goal,” she says, “is to create a space where everyone is free and no one is judged, and everyone can be their childlike selves, their sexiest selves. They can all be on that stage. They are the vision. They are the new beginning. That’s what Renaissance is about.”
The tour, like her instant-classic 2022 Renaissance album, is her celebration of Black music and dance culture through the decades, paying tribute to the queer ballroom legacy, honoring different styles and generations of club life. The tour drew controversy by refusing to settle for a greatest-hits tour: Queen Bey was not out to rest on her laurels or rehash her oldies.
Renaissance covers the whole 56-show tour, with nearly every song from the set list. It’s got appearances from the stars who joined her onstage, with Megan Thee Stallion in Houston, or Kendrick Lamar and Diana Ross, who joined for her 42nd birthday show in L.A. It has loving tributes to her late great heroes Tina Turner (“River Deep, Mountain High”) and Donna Summer (“Love to Love You Baby”). She even ends it with a great new song, which is why nobody runs out during the end credits: “My House,” a hard hip-hop banger with The-Dream. It’s a musical departure from the club sound of Renaissance, but as always, Beyoncé does everything her own way.
The movie chronicles how she brought the whole tour and concept together. So if you’re the kind of Bey fan, like most of us, who really loves seeing her give orders, there’s plenty to cherish here. She has a classic description of her management style, when she’s dealing with disobedient underlings: “Eventually, they realize this bitch will not give up.” She also gives tantalizing hints about her artistic process, like how she goes onstage after a ginseng shot and a “pregame sandwich.” We needs to know what the hell is in that sandwich—recipe, please?
Renaissance is the rare concert film to get a theatrical release, instead of debuting on HBO or Netflix. It comes six weeks after Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour movie, and it’s perfect how both megastars have treated the moment like a joint venture, making the scene together at Tay’s premiere in L.A. and Bey’s in London, bonding like the mutual fans they’ve always been. It’s another peak in the long sage of Tayoncé. Both were teen stars initially dismissed as flash-in-the-pan fads, but check on them now—in 2023, they’re the only two supernovae massive enough to get away with dropping their concert movies on movie screens.
One of the best scenes in any movie this year: Beyoncé meets up in Houston for a brief yet fascinating reunion with her old bandmates from Destiny’s Child—not merely Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams, but also the long-gone LaTavia Roberson and LeToya Luckett. Despite all their conflicts in the past, they’re presented as one big lovefest. Do they sing? Of course not—just a quickie hug. “It was like a new birth for us,” Beyoncé says. “And a lot of healing.” We don’t know how healed the other four feel, since none of them get to speak a word. It’s a delightful flashback to the Survivor “I’m better than that!” era. Oh, for a documentary on this hug alone.
She devotes much of the movie to her family, with her husband Jay-Z, their kids, her parents. There’s a long-running subplot about her 11-year-old daughter Blue Ivy, who beguiles her into letting her dance onstage to “My Power,” becoming a regular part of the show. Most poignantly, she speaks about about her late Uncle Johnny, a gay disco fan who schooled her early in house music, then designed costumes for Destiny’s Child before his tragic death from AIDS. He became her major inspiration for Renaissance.
IN THIS PHOTO: Kelly Rowland
She’s got lots of love for her collaborators—especially her dancers. Not since Madonna’s Truth or Dare has a concert movie given so much screen time to the dance squad, especially her MC, the ballroom legend Kevin JZ Prodigy. Beyoncé also undergoes surgery on her knee, for an onstage injury that goes back 20 years, and we see her work through her rehab to get back up to fighting form. “Usually I only rehearse in heels,” she says. But because of my knee, I haven’t gotten that far yet. It’s hurting like crazy, but the best thing to do is to just get back on the horse.”
In classic form, she’s the most obsessively private and emotionally self-controlled of stars. “The biggest growth in my artistry has come from overcoming failure, conflict and trauma,” she says, though if she’s had creative or commercial failures, they’re well-hidden. She speaks movingly about feeling free in her forties. “The next phase of my life, I want it to come from peace and joy,” she explains. “It’s the best time of my life. I thought I was there at 30, but nah—it’s getting better. Life is getting better.”
Renaissance feels like two films in one. There’s Beyoncé offstage, trying to show how she’s just another member of her big happy creative family—as she says, “There’s so many bees in this hive.” She wants to be a team player. But then there’s Beyoncé onstage, transforming into a goddess and proving why she’s an absolutely unique life form in the universe. On the movie screen, as on the stadium stage, Beyoncé is always the presence who reminds you exactly why you’re here. Renaissance is her tribute to the community around her, and the dance-culture legacy that inspired her. But as soon as she steps in front of a crowd and the spotlight hits her, there’s no doubt about who’s the queen”.
All of this focus on Renaissance and Beyoncé achieving something wonderful and life-affirming as a director, writer and producer makes me think about her as a director. In fact, she is a super actor who has not been afforded the opportunities she deserves. Maybe because of prioritising music and being busy there, she has had less time to act. I can see her in a range of different films and genes. Someone who is naturally magnetic in front of the camera, she would also make a tremendous director and producer. A woman who could helm inspiration films and be responsible for some of the most empowering and powerful cinematic scenes of this generation. I don’t think it is a big leap to come from directing Renaissance and achieving something similarly impactful and popular on a feature film. Millions would love to see that foray! Many see Beyoncé solely as an artist. Not that many appreciate her influence as a visual artist and her gifts (and consistency) as a filmmaker. Think about the critical reaction from other sources. How much praise has come the way of Beyoncé:
“In a five-star review for The Independent, Roisin O'Connor wrote that the film "shows a level of perfectionism beyond any other artist" through "a rare and remarkable" inside-look into the tour's production, comparing Beyoncé to filmmaker Steven Spielberg. O'Connor also lauds the "staggering" and "extraordinary" live performance segments of the film, concluding: "The tempo and sheer spectacle of it all leaves you breathless. No one compares." Philip Cosores of Uproxx described Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé as "masterful, brave and affecting" filmmaking."
IN THIS PHOTO: Beyoncé onstage during the Toronto stop of her acclaimed Renaissance World Tour/PHOTO CREDIT: The New York Times
The Guardian's Steve Rose praised the "affecting" and "intriguing" documentary segments of the film, which successfully "strip back the façade of perfection Beyoncé perpetually exudes" and provide insights into the "staggeringly accomplished" tour. Mark Olsen of the Los Angeles Times described the film as "startlingly candid", with the "notoriously guarded" Beyoncé revealing behind-the-scenes insights from the tour and intimate moments with her family. Writing for The Hollywood Reporter, Angie Han praised the innovative editing and maximalist set design, making the film "feel like a spiritual experience unto itself". Katie Campione of Deadline also likened the film to a religious experience, with its "immersive" visuals and "breathtaking" performance. Today's Arianna Davis agreed, writing that the film "stands apart in its breathtaking visuals" and noting that it was "made for the big screen".
I am not sure what next year holds in store for Beyoncé. It would be great to think that, after so much affirmation and celebration around Renaissance, that she embarks on film projects. Maybe as an actor. Though I think of Beyoncé as a director and producer who can bring to life films about social history and division. A modern-day inspiration who will compel other filmmakers. Someone who clearly has an eye for visuals and storytelling, there is nothing to stop her taking her talents to the big screen. The world would definitely embrace and support Beyoncé and…
HER cinematic renaissance.