By John Corrado
Billie Eilish teams up with none other than visionary filmmaker James Cameron to co-direct Billie Eilish – Hit Me Hard and Soft: The Tour (Live in 3D), a solid concert film that will thrill her fans and provides an eye-popping, visually dazzling 3D experience.
While Eilish and Cameron might seem like an unconventional pairing at first, the collaboration is understandable. It adds the backing of a prestige filmmaker to Eilish’s first theatrically released concert film, and allows Cameron to play around more with the 3D format, which he has been doing for the past nearly two decades across his three Avatar films.
The film captures Eilish performing on tour for her 2024 Hit Me Hard and Soft album, filmed across four shows at the Co-op Live arena in Manchester, England, seamlessly stitched together. It’s intercut with scenes of her preparing for the concert, and working with Cameron on the film, coming up with shots and testing them in 3D.
As such, the 3D is baked into this film in a way that feels intentional. The cellphones float in front of our faces like they would at a real concert. The outstretched hands of the fans reaching for Billie extend into the audience. Every time she holds the microphone out to the crowd, it’s in our faces. It could be called gimmicky, sure, but the 3D is very effective at adding a deeper layer of immersion to what is meant to be a near-interactive fan experience.
This is especially true in moments when Billie picks up the camera and goes handheld, like during “Bad Guy,” capturing selfie-style shots of herself performing the hit song and putting the camera in the faces of her band members and two backup singers for a sort of roll call. It’s a great sequence in a film full of them.
Eilish is right in front of our faces as she jumps around the stage in her signature baggy shorts, a look inspired by the hip-hop artists she grew up idolizing. In candid moments, Eilish talks about wanting to be alone on stage commanding the attention of the audience, something that she really only saw male artists doing as a kid. The high-energy is matched by quieter moments when she is lying on the stage, or performing her poignant, Oscar-winning Barbie song “What Was I Made For?,” which show how much she is able to personally connect with each of her teary-eyed fans in the audience.
Eilish isn’t the first artist to put out a concert film, or even a 3D one; Justin Bieber also did this back in 2011 during the first 3D boom, in the Jon M. Chu-directed Never Say Never. But she is a massively talented performer – I was a big fan of her breakout 2019 album When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?, and have enjoyed everything she’s put out since – and it’s a treat to watch her working with one of our legendary filmmakers like Cameron to craft such a technically impressive theatrical experience.
And, judging by the fan reactions at the advance screening the other night, where a large crowd gathered at the front of the theatre to dance together during “Birds of a Feather,” this film serves as a celebration of her music. The 3D glasses that makes the confetti at the end of the show look like it’s floating right off the screen only adds to that immersive experience.
Film Rating: ★★★½ (out of 4)
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