HOMECOMING: A film by Beyoncé

A concert film and documentary. Beyoncé performed at a large festival in California in 2018. She was the first black woman to headline its main stage, and she built the show around that. The staging draws on a university tradition. The marching band culture of America's historically black colleges, the formations, the drumline and the dance team were brought straight onto the stage; more than a hundred musicians and dancers are on it at once. The film has two layers. One is the show itself, from beginning to end. The other is the preparation: months of rehearsal footage, costume fittings and meetings. The preparation is where its value is. Beyoncé talks about the period after giving birth; the difficult delivery of twins, the recovery and the eight months of work, all said directly. In part of the rehearsals she says her body is not keeping up with her. What the narrative is interested in is not performance but labour: it shows the show not as a display of talent but as a structure that was built. The performance was filmed across two weekends and the costumes differ in colour; the editing joins the two. Beyoncé Knowles-Carter directed. Who it is for: anyone who likes concert films and behind-the-scenes documentaries. Who it is not for: anyone expecting a critical portrait; the film is the artist's own production and the narrative is entirely under her control.