Welcome back to the blog readers. Today I have something very interesting for you guys. Because my friend had to suffer through it and because I had a mild interest in it, I saw the Taylor Swift concert film. Normally I do not let my interests for film and music cross paths, but this film is music, so here we go. Taylor Swift is one of those rare artists that can transcend anything she touches, whether it be film (in films like Cats (2019) and Amsterdam (2022)), music (in which she has sold millions of albums, won multiple awards, and made millions of dollars), television, you name it. She even will be writing and directing her debut feature film at some point in the future. She truly is a megastar.
Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour is directed by Sam Wrench and is a cinematic rendering of Swift's ongoing concert tour named The Eras Tour. Like the tour itself, the concert film represents Swift's discography in 10 different acts that represent her studio albums, from 2008's Fearless to 2022's Midnights, with some omissions.
I want to start this review by making a few things clear here. The first thing is that I am not now or ever will be a Swiftie. I cannot match this Easter egg with this song or album, nor do I have the time to sit there and match the song with its respective ex. And I am not even a fan of her music as a whole, just the albums Speak Now (2010, Taylor's Version in 2023), Folklore (2020) and Midnights (2022), the latter being my album of the year that year. The second point I want to get across is that although I had a mild interest in this film, I was never anticipating it or looking forward to it. Finally, at the end of the day, this is a film. I went into it as I would any film, as a critic. And sorry, one final point, I will not be including this film in my year-end countdowns, so do not expect it there in December.
Wit all that said, let us get into my review of the film. Aside from two complaints (one of them being out of my control), I enjoyed myself. I thought there was definitely something special about it, and I can understand now why people would be willing to shill out so much money to actually see her on tour. Would I? No, unless my partner really wanted to go. Then a bank loan is on the horizon. All kidding aside, I did enjoy the cinematography, the visuals, and the theatrical nature of the film.
Let us get my complaints out of the way first. The first one that I need to discuss is one that is completely out of my control. Unfortunately, the audience that I got for the film consisted of 90% preteen children. For the most part they behaved, but unnecessary screaming and cheering kind of took me out of it. Like when the transition tag that took the film from the Folklore set to the 1989 set, the kids went crazy as if she just showed up. Like I said, it was something that was out of my control and I just had to deal with it.
The real complaint that I had involved the sound. This was not present for a lot of the songs, but for some of them, the sound mixer dropped the ball. Notably on songs from the 1989 and Midnights sets, along with "...Ready For It?" (2017) are where they are present. On said songs, the bass completely overpowers the rest of the audio. And this is a real shame because I was getting into it in places as well.
Now we will get into the positives. The first thing I want to praise is the cinematography. A person named Brett Turnbull was responsible for the cinematography, and I thought he did a superb job of making you feel like you were right in front of Swift the entire time. I did enjoy the intimate angles and in-your-face presentation for some of the songs.
The next positive I have with the film is with Swift herself. The stamina and energy that she has for a 3+ hour-long show (the film was cut down to 2 hours and 49 minutes) is incredible and not attainable for many artists. To me, some of her strongest musical performances come from the songs "champagne problems" and "tolerate it" (both 2020), "Don't Blame Me" (2017), and the 10-minute version of "All Too Well" (2021). One thing that genuinely made me emotional was who got the "22 hat." In case you do not know, during the performance of the song "22" (2012), Swift wears a hat that she eventually gives to a fan near the end of the song. The film's hat recipient was Bianca Bryant, the daughter of late basketball legend Kobe Bryant and sister to the late Gianna. That choked me up and I applaud Swift for doing that.
In conclusion, Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour is a fun and dazzling spectacle that highlights a megastar in the prime of her career, although some sound issues prevent this from taking the next step. Thank you all for reading, and I will see you for the next post.
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