Have you heard? 2023 was the year concert films saved the cinema – or at least gave it a boost cinemas. Normally it would be difficult to assemble enough notable entries to justify a year-end film concert ranking, but not this year. This year the concert film ruled. Taylor Swift and Beyoncé bypassed Hollywood by working directly with theaters to distribute their respective box office champions. Culture-changing global superstars BTS managed to make waves at the box office despite being on a group hiatus for the entirety of 2023. And Hollywood indie darling A24 re-released the 1984 film Stop making sensewidely regarded as one of the best concert films of all time.
As with any ranking, it is important to come up with criteria. This is not based on the quality of the recorded performance, but rather on the concert film's unique merits as, well, film. Frankly, there aren't any bad films on this list – it really was a good year for concert-oriented filmmaking – but there were some examples that were more cinematically ambitious than others. In a year full of concert films, let's take a look at which films did something particularly unique with the format.
5. BTS: Still to come
Photo: Taeseong Kim/Prime Video
Where to watch: Prime Video
It pains me to put my beloved BTS so low on this list, but remember: all five of these concert films are pretty good. As a card-carrying member of BTS ARMY, BTS: Still to come – a filmed version of the K-pop sensation's final performance before the group went on hiatus for mandatory military service – was the concert film I personally enjoyed the most in 2023. guided by veteran K-pop concert film director Oh Yoon-dong, BTS: Still to come does nothing special outside of point-and-shoot when translating to film. Still, the cinematic release gave fans an excuse to dress up and change the batteries in theirs ARMY Bomband shout the lyrics to “Cypher Pt 3” with other enthusiasts. Nothing wrong with those ambitions!
BTS: Still to come might have been higher on the list if the film hadn't decided to reduce and move the placement of the concert's “ments,” the closing remarks made by artists at K-pop concerts. Speeches are one of the many unique aspects of attending a K-pop concert, and – especially given the significance of this performance – it would have been nice to see these speeches in their entirety. Presumably the decision was made for running time reasons, but the editing made for a jarring shift in editorial style that didn't quite fit with the straightforward, pretend-you-were-there structure of the rest of the film. (This film also loses points for excluding the hard-working cinematographer who put his body on the line for all of us so he could have the opportunity. Never forget.)
4. Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour
Photo: Jeff Kravitz/TAS23/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management
Where to watch: Digital rental/purchase Amazon, Appleand Vudu
Like it BTS: Still to come, Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour is another simple concert film designed to recreate the experience of dwelling on the pop star's ongoing, record-breaking world tour. But not like BTS: Still to come, Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour draws from three separate shows, giving director Sam Wrench more material to draw from. There was also filming state-of-the-art SoFi stadium in Los Angeles, allowing for a more dynamic captured performance. The viewer is, like in the at Swift's pop culture party of a show.
As 2023 draws to a close, Swift's The Eras Tour – a three-hour-plus show chronicling the first seventeen years of Swift's career – is on track to be a success. the highest-grossing tour of all time. It's not just a good show; it is representative of a cultural shift in the way people define themselves as fans. Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour provided a glimpse into what such a community might look like, both for those who are already part of it and for those who might be curious.
3. Renaissance: a Beyoncé film
Image: AMC
Where to watch: Theaters
Part concert film, part documentary behind the scenes, Renaissance: A Beyoncé Film shows Beyoncé's strength not only as an artist, but also as a director. Queen Bey wrote, produced and directed the cinematic experience, which provides a glimpse into what went into putting together and creating her massive Renaissance world tour.
Unlike most of the other concert films on the list, Renaissance drew from many different stops throughout her 56-show tour, providing a more ambitious, broader representation of the tour as a whole. Not only does the viewer get a front-row seat to some of Beyoncé's carefully choreographed numbers, including one in which she flies through the air on the back of a giant silver horse. We also hear Beyoncé's musings on aging, motherhood, capitalism's quite effective attempts to turn us into machines, how our hometowns shape us, and the construction of time. We also dive deep into the rich history of ball cultureand a tribute to Beyoncé's late uncle Johnny, who helped raise her.
If that seems like a lot in one concert film, it is. However, as a filmmaker and performer, Beyoncé manages to make it into a coherent whole by using the story of her show as a backbone. We return to it again and again, a reminder not only of the beautiful art that people can create together in this flawed, frustrating world, but that art cannot be separated from the process that creates it and us.
2. Stop thinking logically
Image: A24
Where to watch: Theaters
In a recent interview with CBS Sunday MorningTalking Heads bassist Tina Weymouth described the structure of Stop making sense, which immortalizes the post-punk band's 1983 performance at the Hollywood Pantages Theater as follows: “It's the story of love. It is real. It starts with one person, an individual standing alone in this world, and then a community builds around it.” Is there a better working definition of live musical performance than this? Is there a film that captures that feeling better? Stop making sensewho pioneered the concert film techniques used by other participants on this list?
This year, A24 released a re-release of the Jonathan Demme film, which was a huge success when it was originally released in 1984 and is still a hit forty years later. It's a snapshot of a band at a creative peak, finding euphoric joy in their music and sharing that joy with their audience. From the strange, beautiful movements of frontman David Byrne (sometimes in an absurdly oversized suit) to the looks the performers share on stage and the cleverness of the performance's construction, it's incredible how the artistic intensity of this particular euphoric moment has changed in space and time. preserved on celluloid. Thank goodness for conservationists, Demme and the Talking Heads pioneered the use of digital audio also with these types of films.
The merger of three Hollywood performances captured in Stop making sense would be part of the Talking Heads' final tour as a group. In 1988 they went on hiatus, and in 1991 they would 'officially' split. Whatever happened, it was messy, and the four members – Byrne and Weymouth, as well as drummer Chris Frantz and keyboardist/guitarist Jerry Harrison – are more or less alienated as a group. Prior to promotion for this film, the Talking Heads had not appeared together in public since their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002. quite difficult. This meta-context creates the experience of watching Stop making sense even more valuable in 2023, especially on the big screen.
1. Ryuichi Sakamoto: Opus
Image: Janus
Where to watch: Theaters
Ryuichi Sakamoto died on March 28, 2023. In his 71 years, the Japanese composer and world-famous piano soloist was a pioneer of electronic music through his work with the Yellow Magic Orchestra, and an Academy Award-winning composer who wrote the soundtracks for films and others The last emperor And The Revenant. He has inspired and/or collaborated with countless artists, including David Byrne, David Bowie, Michael Jackson, Iggy Pop and BTS rapper Suga, who featured Sakamoto on his 2023 album.
In addition to being an astonishingly talented and influential musician, Sakamoto was also a baller. He didn't just compile a playlist with 33 songs to be played at his funeral, he took part in the film adaptation of one of his last performances, released posthumously in cinematic form by his filmmaker son Neo Sora. The result is Opusan unflinchingly graceful representation of one man's connection to music and performance.
Opus is boldly simple in design: Sakamoto sits alone at a Yamaha grand piano in the NHK Studio in Tokyo and plays twenty pieces from his extensive career, including fan favorites “Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence.” There is no context and no audience in the studio. There is only Sakamoto and his piano. Shot in crisp black and white, Opus is unhurried in his exploration of his subject. For a hundred minutes, we linger on shots of Sakamoto's hands and face, on shots of the instrument's strings, hammers and keys, on how well they know each other and work together. The studio's artificial lighting deliberately shifts the space, the entire world of this film, from morning to evening.
Before filming the movie, Sakamoto's health only allowed that include a few pieces a day – and even that reportedly took a lot out of him. There are moments, deliberately saved in the final cut, where Sakamoto messes up and starts over – a messy, beautiful part of any artistic process. In the film, the artist is running out of time to perform. He has by the time we watch the film, there's no time left to act. But Opus refuses to worry about the inevitability of death, even though it tells so much about what we see and feel on screen. Opus know that art like Sakamoto's remains. What a gift it is.