She revolutionized the concert industry this year. Now she is transforming the movie business. Not only is "Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour" invading AMC Theaters for a month, but she is allowing screaming, dancing and cellphones during the marathon movie. OMG! Let's go!
We — a veteran Swiftie since 2006 who experienced three shows on the Eras Tour and a movie critic who knows "Lavender Haze" when he hears it filter out of a neighboring AMC screen — attended the "Eras" movie on Friday, the originally scheduled opening for this $100-million first weekend. (Taylor being Taylor, she offered sneak previews on Thursday night with only 24 hours' notice.)
The hallways of AMC Southdale were littered with glitter and popcorn. However, during our movie, no one screamed, no one danced or sang along, and no one exchanged friendship bracelets. It was the 11 p.m. screening and, surprisingly, we could count the number of filmgoers on our fingers.
After waking up in a lavender haze, we discussed the latest blockbuster.
Hewitt: That "Lavender Haze" outfit is lilac, by the way. Outrageous! My main reaction to "Eras" was that it's no "Stop Making Sense," which is a high bar since I think that Talking Heads/Jonathan Demme collab is the all-time best concert film. "Eras" isn't filmmaking on that level but it's a really good document of a concert. I feel like I have a sense of what it would have been like to see those shows. But you actually did see those shows. Does that ring true for you?
Bream: "Stop Making Sense," indeed the best concert film ever, was conceived for the screen, i.e., as a movie that became a concert, as well. "Eras Tour" is a wonderful representation of the music, performance and spectacle of Taylor's fabulous show, which, as a concert, sets the bar as high as "Stop Making Sense" did as a concert film.
You get a closer-than-front-row seat — you can see the beads of sweat on Taylor's face and her chipped fingernail polish. The panoramas of So Fi Stadium in Los Angeles (the last stop — in August — on the North American tour) and the stage give you a sense of the massiveness of the football-field-size extravaganza. But the film doesn't capture "the concert experience." You don't feel the fans, who were beyond exuberant singing along with every single song in their inspired outfits. At the premiere Wednesday in Los Angeles, Taylor said fans were a character in the film. They were certainly characters at the concerts I attended — watching their unfettered joy was an integral part of the show live — but the film disappointingly misses that.
Hewitt: There's a case to be made that when we go to a Swift film, we want all-Swift all the time, but I'm with you. We get flashes of sobbing fans (mostly female, white, under 25) but never hear from them. The film reminded me of football games on TV — swooping cameras, long shots alternating with closeups on repeat — which makes sense since she performed in a stadium. It was almost like we were seeing an Olympics opening ceremony with Swift instead of the decathlon.