Harry Styles. One Night in Manchester

Four years after being welcomed into Harry’s House, we’ve now been invited to Harry’s disco. From seasoned director Paul Dugdale, whose credits include performances from other stadium-fillers like Coldplay and the Rolling Stones, Harry Styles. One Night in Manchester is more than your average concert film.

Performing his fourth album, Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally, in full at Manchester’s Co-op Live Area, Styles prepares the audience for the fact that there may be mistakes. “It’s supposed to be a little rough; it’s the first time we’re playing it, it’s pure fun,” he says. But therein lies the film’s artistic honesty. We walk on stage with the musician to a cacophony of screams and strobes, before he launches into an anthemic rendition of Aperture. The audience was barred from bringing in phones to the £20-a-person concert, which allows for a more organic experience, an antidote to an era of a sea of devices.

Dugdale manages to make an arena show in front of 20,000 people look intimate. While this may be Styles’s disco, the director subtly emphasises the collaborative effort from the musician’s sizeable troupe, which includes a backing chorus, a keyboardist and a violinist. Though those in attendance will have likely focused solely on the man of the moment, the camera pans across his collaborators, creating an almost communal feel that’s in stark contrast to idol worship. It shows that Styles is most at home when working with other artists, with whom he shares the glory.

As Styles takes to the piano for Coming Up Roses, the camera floats over a beautiful string section. It’s an evocative highlight of the feature, illustrating Styles’s ever-expanding musical eclecticism. And in the background, we see a technician unscrambling cables; a camera operator quickly scuttles out of shot. It’s these little production details, which are often edited out of concert films, that make it all the more special.

Whether the gig has broader appeal beyond his fanbase is another matter entirely. Styles’s new material, which is less experimental than his city pop-infused third album, is unlikely to garner him many new fans. But perhaps that doesn’t matter, as this is a film unashamedly for the “Harries”.

What may ostensibly appear a promotional launch is a uniquely charming look at the engine behind Styles’s energetic live performances. Irresistibly infectious, Harry Styles. One Night in Manchester is one disco invitation you won’t want to miss.