I caught Beyoncé: Life Is But a Dream last weekend on HBO Zone where they showed encore after encore after encore of this documentary so there was no way I could miss it, followed by an interview with Oprah over at OWN on the same night of the cable premiere.
The documentary was produced, directed, promoted, starred and edited by Beyoncé herself so there are many details that she's left out so we get to see probably a small percentage of the "real" Beyoncé that we've expected to see. It's one thing to allow cameras to come into your home, film endless hours of every single thing you do and have an unbiased director edit the movie to show this or that aspect of her story.
Don't get me wrong, I like Beyoncé. I believe that she's a perfectionist when it comes down to her live performances and appearances. Her father, also acting as her former manager, has taught her well and has made her be the superstar that she is today. Ever since she was a teenager and formed her all girl band, followed by Destiny's Child, then her solo career Beyoncé has played all her cards very well and has landed her on the top of the music world. There is no denying her talent and showmanship.
When it comes to revealing all in front of her laptop camera, which she carries everywhere she goes, is a different story. There's nothing engaging or much revealing to see in Life, it's more of an outlet for Beyoncé to talk about her frustration, creative stumps that come along the way, her father whom she had to "fire" as her manager since there was no differentiation between work and family. All I have to say is Beyoncé suffers from a "poor rich girl" syndrome. Are we supposed to feel sorry for her?
Among many other scenes, Beyoncé is lying in bed, baring no make-up, and says in a grave, deep voice "there's so much going on" before turning her lamp light off, leaving us wondering "what is going on?". Later, in her interview with Oprah, she says how it was so difficult to choose what to reveal and what not to reveal in the documentary yet she doesn't reveal much. Kind of contradictory, don't you think?
One thing that she makes absolutely clear is that she carried her daughter's pregnancy instead of using a surrogate mother. I always believed that to be true and I did sense that she was hurt when she realized how a "harmless" gossip gets started and messes with an artist's head, much like Michael Jackson. She also reveals how she lost her first baby two years prior and her latest album carries a song where she pours her feelings about her loss, which I thought was real and heart breaking.
In general, I thought Beyoncé: Life Is But a Dream borrows from many other documentaries like Madonna: Truth Or Dare, or U2's Rattle and Hum, Rolling Stones' Gimme Shelter or everything we've seen on MTV over the years. Nothing new, something we've come to expect already. I feel Beyoncé was really careful with how much she revealed but in the process left many questions unanswered. I guess that's what happens when you're the director of your own documentary? What should be the title to my documentary? The Many Faces of Italo? Hmmmm Let me start working on that
The documentary was produced, directed, promoted, starred and edited by Beyoncé herself so there are many details that she's left out so we get to see probably a small percentage of the "real" Beyoncé that we've expected to see. It's one thing to allow cameras to come into your home, film endless hours of every single thing you do and have an unbiased director edit the movie to show this or that aspect of her story.
Don't get me wrong, I like Beyoncé. I believe that she's a perfectionist when it comes down to her live performances and appearances. Her father, also acting as her former manager, has taught her well and has made her be the superstar that she is today. Ever since she was a teenager and formed her all girl band, followed by Destiny's Child, then her solo career Beyoncé has played all her cards very well and has landed her on the top of the music world. There is no denying her talent and showmanship.
When it comes to revealing all in front of her laptop camera, which she carries everywhere she goes, is a different story. There's nothing engaging or much revealing to see in Life, it's more of an outlet for Beyoncé to talk about her frustration, creative stumps that come along the way, her father whom she had to "fire" as her manager since there was no differentiation between work and family. All I have to say is Beyoncé suffers from a "poor rich girl" syndrome. Are we supposed to feel sorry for her?
Among many other scenes, Beyoncé is lying in bed, baring no make-up, and says in a grave, deep voice "there's so much going on" before turning her lamp light off, leaving us wondering "what is going on?". Later, in her interview with Oprah, she says how it was so difficult to choose what to reveal and what not to reveal in the documentary yet she doesn't reveal much. Kind of contradictory, don't you think?
One thing that she makes absolutely clear is that she carried her daughter's pregnancy instead of using a surrogate mother. I always believed that to be true and I did sense that she was hurt when she realized how a "harmless" gossip gets started and messes with an artist's head, much like Michael Jackson. She also reveals how she lost her first baby two years prior and her latest album carries a song where she pours her feelings about her loss, which I thought was real and heart breaking.
In general, I thought Beyoncé: Life Is But a Dream borrows from many other documentaries like Madonna: Truth Or Dare, or U2's Rattle and Hum, Rolling Stones' Gimme Shelter or everything we've seen on MTV over the years. Nothing new, something we've come to expect already. I feel Beyoncé was really careful with how much she revealed but in the process left many questions unanswered. I guess that's what happens when you're the director of your own documentary? What should be the title to my documentary? The Many Faces of Italo? Hmmmm Let me start working on that