User Reviews

Never have I listened to a song by Billie Eilish, I've never really cared for her music personally, I've seen a handful of small clips from her online, and of course watched those Grammy awards but that's about all I knew about her. I also tend to not like docs about artists who are still alive today, I always feel like they're pretty one sided and don't tell a full story. But damn, this really made me appreciate her as an artist. This doc really gives you a feel for her a person, as a sibling, as a friend, and as an artist. All the ups and downs are here. It never feels one sided or feels like it pushes false truths. It's very raw, it's heartfelt, and you get some great insight behind the scenes. Coming from someone who's never listened to Billie their whole life, this doc is great for those like me, and i'm sure even better for her millions of super fans.

Amazing documentary ... It was a little long though.

I am a 56 year old mom and have been captivated by Billie since I first heard Ocean Eye's. I watched this because I wanted to know more about her. I wound up seeing my own daughter's struggles reflected in Billie's. I teared up more than once. This documentary (aside from watching this amazing artist) showed me that as parents we need to be more in touch. Our children are dealing with a lot these days, and it's so important to validate their feelings and individualism. Their mental health is at stake. I'm so thankful for Billie's willingness to share her vulnerability with us.

I'm equal parts too old to empathize with this personally and yet 100% convinced that Billie rules. Much like her music, this is an endlessly compelling documentary whose intimacy makes you feel like you're watching a friend. It's a cliched comparison in pop music, but there's a Cobain-esque quality to her, particularly in her wrestling with pop iconography. That comparison is unsettling (seeing how Cobain's life ended), but this immersive everyday epic is far too committed to the moment to be that pessimistic.

My husband and I learned tonight watching this documentary that we need to to let go of judgment, let go of frustration, let go of all of it and just love our kids and support our kids. This was an amazing journey, Billie's, Finneas', her parents', and ours. We will be forever grateful, things change now. Aside from that, it was really a great documentary.

I am a 51 year old single mom and I've loved Billie since the minute I first heard Ocean Eyes. I'm constantly amazed by her growth and groundedness and brilliance. When I was a teenager, we felt that way about Madonna. It's just amazing when a rare jewel shares herself with the world. Even so, a two hour documentary is a pretty huge commitment and I though I'd check out the first 20 minutes or so. Nope. I watched the entire thing which was riveting and honest and emotionally exhausting and completely uplifting. Proud of her like a momma. Keep going girl, but give Madonna a call if you ever get hung up....

This is what a documentary should be like. It was absolutely fantastic. I'm a huge fan of Billie so yes I loved it but this movie is just flawless

Billie and Finneas are so talented and this movie shows their talent

It's refreshing to find an artist that is truly authentic, has genuine talent, and despite reluctance, fatigue, and the pressure of having to go on in spite of how she may feel, goes on and on. I always been impressed by how much of herself is on display. She has near total control of her image. She isn't being pushed into a corner by style gurus and managers, and when she does get pushed she pushes back and they listen.

What we have here is an unapologetic eye on her world, the creative process, the ups, the downs, and all the bits in the middle. She's unapologetic about her openness, and that she doesn't have a team of songwriters makes her music all the more special. And it is special, Finneas and Billie O'Connell represent a serious threat to homogeny that is modern pop music, and I'm not sure this is all pop music anyway. Baring one's soul is not in keeping with today's twee world of obvious party lyrics. There's a depth to the lyrics that makes them accessible in a number of ways.

The documentary was well done, and every bit as informative as any we've seen without the need for a narrator or a narrative. It's just Billie and Finneas, raw and mostly unedited. The support they both receive from their parents is lovely to see. I only recently learned that Billie is two weeks older than my daughter, and it was then that I could see some of the parallels of what she is going through. Her mother said it best. It's easy to ignore or write off what our kids are saying, but we can never know their difficulties or their pain points. They're growing up in a totally different world to the one I experienced at that age. It's always going to be difficult, but there's a lot more exposure to everything now. Maybe it's a part of evolution, too. I don't know. I just saw some spooky parallels and heard Billie saying some stuff that I recognize from being around my own kid.

Nevertheless, while I'm not what you would call a fan, as someone who dabbles with music, music production, and understands a fair bit about the process of songwriting and production, I take my hat off to these two. They make it seem effortless.

As a casual fan of Billie Eilish's music I found this film to be insightful as well as entertaining. You really get a sense of who she is, as an artist and a human being. A lot of wide ranging emotions. Feel like I now have more context and understanding of her career, but in a way that doesn't feel like a history lesson. Main negative I have is that the structure of this film felt a bit off, and maybe a bit repetitive (the long runtime didn't help).

Billie Eilish is navigating life as a superstar. She's a BRILLIANT performer, writer and director. She's infinitely compassionate and completely dedicated to her craft, fans, and family. She's also an INCREDIBLY complex, insecure young woman enduring tremendous physical and emotional pain. She also happens to still live at home with her Mom and Dad, JUST like a "normal" teenager. Aside from touring the globe and being pursued by paparazzi and flocked fans to whom she is SO generous, on any given day, she could be just another Justin Bieber adoring fan, BUT she isn't, and this glimpse into how she handles this life is BRILLIANT. A must see look at an AMAZING young woman and her family.

Made up of intimate home videos and what must have been countless hours of footage, performances, and interviews, R.J. Cutler's 'Billie Eilish: The World's a Little Blurry' is an intimate and revealing look at Billie Eilish's creative process, her personal life, and her mind-boggling career trajectory. It's hard to come away from this doc without an admiration for her undeniable work ethic and unique artistic vision. A little too long, but it's a captivating window into the life of a talented young performer (with an equally talented brother) - and a generation coming of age in these often scary and confusing times.

I was crying not even one minute in, as well throughout periodically. Billie is out of this world and the emotion she puts into her music is so raw and real. She is unquestionably authentic. This isn't only a look into her life, this is her life. It's remarkable and how willing she is to bare it all without even realizing it, as she says. There aren't words to describe how truly extraordinary she is. Her family is extremely supportive and beautiful. This documentary shows the tough times and darkness she's battled. I can't say I've ever connected with an artist as much as she. And I know millions can say the same.

I happened to listen to When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? Like a month before finding out this was a thing, and then quite promptly added it to my films I wanted to watch from this year.

Because I think whether or not you like that album, you can't deny that it's one of the weirdest and most unique records to come out of pop music in the last decade, and I really like that even the least played song from that album on Spotify still has 170 million plays, which is absolutely insane, especially for something so undefinable and strange. I mean, the only thing I could possibly think of to list all the songs on it under would be a very vague "art pop" label, and even then, there's some industrial, some hip hop, and even some jazz here and there, while Billie and Finneas still managed to create a style that is unmistakably theirs.

Anyway, I like that something so far from the norm was so ridiculously successful, as I always do, because I enjoy being proven right when I say that there can be a pretty huge market for weird stuff that goes against the grain.

And while I haven't listened to Don't Smile At Me or Happier Than Ever yet, what I'm trying to get across with all this rabbiting is that this is coming from a fan of hers, and I thought that a documentary about the making of her first album would be interesting.

And you know what, it was. It is interesting seeing the creation process of that record in relation to her mental state and everything else happening in her life at the time.

The problem is that that's the first half of the film. After that point, it just becomes any other music documentary, and as such, pretty boring. And like I said, this is coming from a fan of hers. If you're not one, then you probably won't even get anything out of the first half of this film, never mind the second, so my recommendation would be to not bother.

There's only a small handful of moments of interesting directing or editing, and while the story is very interesting for a while, after the Coachella scene, it starts feeling real repetitive.

So you know...like I've been prattling on about for a while now...if you're a fan, I guess...

Don't get me wrong, I am a fan of Billie but this doc is similar to the Shawn Mendes documentary and other music docs from late, where things sort of meander and there is no real plot or deep backstory. Just a camera following the recording process and touring. Which is all fine and dandy, but if you've seen one artist recording and touring, you've kinda seen them all. Also there is absolutely no reason this needed to be nearly 2 and a half hours...

Striped down, all in, will make you laugh, cry, and will make you fall in love with billie all over again. It really opens your eyes to what she was going through, especially because she was so young.

No matter what you are expecting, it will not disappoint

In ordinary circumstances, I probably wouldn't have watched this. Though I like Billie when I've seen her interviewed previously, I'm not really a fan of the style of music she does. That said I enjoyed (though that sometimes "enjoyed" is slightly the wrong word) the film.

Split into two halves, the documentary follows the singer Billie Eilish and her brother Finneas O'Connell as they produce her debut album "When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go". Her increased profile along with the immediate success of the album see her perform at the Cochella festival. The second half sees the stresses that touring the album has on her physical and mental wellbeing, before finishing with the albums sweeping success at the Grammy awards.

A documentary like this is entirely reliant on the access that the family are willing to provide the filmmakers and here they were allowed to see a lot of personal candid moments at home and footage from the kids growing up. Our central pair mess around trying to write the album, we see the breakdown of Billie's relationship with her boyfriend, lots of footage of the physical damage that Billie's high voltage performances have on her body, the mental stresses of travel and meeting randoms and trying to be earnest with people without spending every minute of your time hugging fans.

It's sad at times, and stressful, as you can see that she hasn't always been emotionally well at points in her life and the amount of stress that we put on performers, particularly in an age of social media, is something we really need to address. There's a lot of time spent with her parents, who homeschooled both their children and encouraged an interest in art, dance and music and who, at times, seem rightly worried about what the world, and in particularly, this world of musical acclaim, might do to their daughter.

Away from the specifics of the subject matter, the access that the filmmakers were given and the small narratives that manged to be pulled from several years of footage makes for an interesting and rewarding documentary.

This movie is incredible and just so well put together. it's emotional and it gives so many people a new appreciation for billie and what she does.

I watched this "documentary" (because it is not...its just footage with zero narrative or commentary; supposedly telling a story but its more of a promotional video for her album) because I wanted to know why the F is this girl famous. She must have awesome music.

She does not. Just another artificially pushed/built pop star. She has a very nice voice yes, I will admit that. But her music is on the level of a background music for Kellog's flakes commercial, its just her singing randomly some simple lyrics with simple rhymes in a variation of moods with pop(y) background tracks. Blue, happy, jumpy, slow, fast. But real music value? Quality melodic structure or special harmony? Interesting or resonant ? ZERO. Long gone are the times of Led Zeppelin, Queen or even Nirvana. Heck, I even love Mos Def and stuff like Ghetto Rock or David Guetta and songs like Love is gone. All brilliant and original,special. Good music is good music, regardless of genre or person performing it. Try listening to one of her songs and then a song like "Where did you sleep last night" or "Immigrant song". Soul,passion,hair raising chilling beauty music.

All she and her team are selling is her/her personality (which I will also admit is genuine,humble and kindhearted) /her image in general and her soft voice. But being humble and authentic with a soft voice doesnt make you a quality musician.

I guess this "documentary" will be popular with her fans. However if you are a fan of quality music or quality documentaries (which chronicle someone in a systematic detailed manner), look elsewhere (i.e. the new Tekashi69 documentary,I dont like him/his music, however the documentary is exemplary). In that aspect,the B.E: The World is a little Blurry "docu.", is as void of that as she and her music is of melody and personality.

When I say strange what I mean by that is how people who live in that world are. She is very talented but her upbringing and relationship with her brother is a little strange. Not to mention dating a 22 year old when she was barely 16. It was good and entertaining but I fear people will try to relate to it like this is a normal life. It's not in fact it's as far away from normal regular life as anything. Artists have to have that or how do they create so I get it but kids are so impressed with things like this and it's not reality.

I'm a big fan of Billie! Loved this doc I could watch it over and over again.

I saw this with my best friend she loves Billie Eilish I listened to her here and there but now I learned so much about her and now I'm a fan can't wait to see what she does in the future

When I began watching this, I could only take the first 30 minutes before turning it off. I was aware of Billie Eilish only from her Grammy wins and the song Bad Guy, which seemed to be on a great number of commercials in 2020. From seeing and hearing her music on that limited basis, I was not particularly enamored. I imagined she was a weed-smoking, depressed and dark teenager like so many are. The first part of this film just reinforced that image for me, especially given that she seemed to learn to say the f-word shortly after "Mama".

When I returned to the film the next day, that image began to change. It covers a long enough period of time that you see Billie going through the phases most teens experience, and starting to mature. While her music is not very imaginative melodically, she is a talented singer and can write lyrics that resonate with her audience. And while her wardrobe (especially in the early stages) looked to be mostly brightly-colored potato sacks and her stage presence was largely just bouncing up and down, as the film goes on you can see that she is a beautiful (not just "sort of" as she says) young lady who has truly connected with her audience and wants to do her best for them. Partway through the film you see her being concerned about staying away from cigarettes, drugs and booze, proving my original perception to be incorrect, though in the music business you have to wonder how long she can abstain. By the end of the film I began to admire her and found myself quite liking her determination and talent.

She (and her mother) talk about how depressing and dark her music is, which is true. One hopes that will evolve as she grows up and sees other facets of life. Many teens are in the same situation and I suspect much of that is due to them (like Billie) being on their phones constantly, consuming social media which tends to greatly amplify the negative and often overblown news media. When that is what you see all the time, no wonder you're in a dark place.

The film doesn't show a whole lot of people in her life, which I cannot tell is true or just how it was edited. Aside from her somewhat overwhelmed and at times befuddled parents, and her brother, we saw her struggle with her emotionally neglectful boyfriend. We see moments of her grappling with the demands of her career as things begin to really take off, and at first I wondered why she continued. Was it her parents pushing her into it, making her figuratively dance on a tightrope over something that could destroy her if she fell off? By the end of the film it is clear that while the parents want her to succeed, so does Billie.

The film is arguably somewhat too long, but I can understand why that is, given the time span it covers. I think it makes it a bit of a slog for those who aren't devoted fans. The lack of outside perspectives putting her success in context is a weakness of the film, as is the lack of much to do with her relationship with her record company. Stars are reduced for all of those reasons, but I still recommend it. I suspect it will make for an interesting look back in the years to come.

I heard Billie (and Finneas) Eilish a couple of years ago for the first time. I am an avid music lover, but there is something so special about her voice and their lyrics. It defies ages. Not the Voice of a generation, the Voice for Generations. I am older but feel no shame at all, only awe at this magnificent talent.

I found the documentary insightful, touching and at times disturbing. It gave such an honest portrayal of her, from every angle. So refreshing to see someone and so young, so confident in her "uncomfortableness" and "comfortableness". Willing to share and discuss it all. I found it all, very moving.

There was a disturbing part however, the business, which felt like #metoo. How can you force and push and push someone in such a way, not even taking her age into account?

Billie and her brother, are geniuses that defy any age. I found myself deeply enthralled in their journey, as well as part of the disease, as I was left wanting to see more. Made me think of her song "Everything I wanted". Think that song summarizes her journey and documentary.

We do not own people/artists and this kind of industry with it's suffocation and exploitation surely has to seize before it destroys what it is supposed to be nurturing and promoting. Preaching and hypocrisy combined, I loved it. For all the wrong and right reasons.

9/10. This must have taken forever to film and was clearly done so with heart. Breathtaking, captivating and emotional.

My god. I'm going to sum it up just by saying: damn.

All the feels guaranteed.

What a masterpiece.

Wasn't expecting it to be so complex and detailed. You can feel Billie's essence a mile away.

So glad I stayed up late to witness the rise of one of the best documentaries ever made. Point blank period.

Thank you Billie.

This is an outstanding documentary, it shows everything! It is heartfelt and sincere. I cannot comprehend how talented billie and finneas are