Billie Eilish – Hit Me Hard and Soft: The Tour (Live in 3D)

The mark of a successful concert movie is one that brings the audience to the heart of the action. Never one to do things by half measures, James Cameron is the perfect director for Billie Eilish’s third concert film, Billie Eilish – Hit Me Hard and Soft: The Tour (Live in 3D), which he co-directed alongside the illustrious musician. Filmed across four nights in Manchester’s Co-op Arena, it’s a seamless balance of immersive concert production alongside behind-the-scenes vignettes.

The songstress comes out to a blanket of phone screens, with Eilish clearly an icon to her fellow Zoomers. Grinning at the crowd and clearly enjoying herself, she launches into Chihiro. Her infectious charm is amplified by the 3D format, illustrative of how such a young woman has been able to captivate arenas across the globe.

Interspersed throughout the concert are glimpses of performance preparations, including makeup (it’s revealed that Eilish does her own hair and makeup, prompting a sweet moment in which Cameron compliments her eyeliner-smudging skills), production meetings and even rescue pup therapy. After the first song, it flashes back to her perspective of being carried on stage in a box, wheeled through an otherwise oblivious crowd at whom she peers through a tiny opening. It’s these snippets that highlight the complexity of such a grand production, contrasted with Eilish’s down-to-earth demeanour.

Having brought back the once hackneyed 3D format with Avatar: Fire and Ash last year, Cameron again appears intent on reviving it. Eilish herself says in the film that she wanted to create something as overstimulating as possible, but in the best way possible, and she and Cameron have undoubtedly accomplished this feat. The 3D is most effective when there’s a shallow depth of field, with Eilish in the foreground and the crowd blurred behind her, accentuating that distinction. But it doesn’t always work. For instance, close-ups of crying fans’ faces during Wildflower are almost uncomfortably intimate. But there’s no doubt that such reactions are, at times, something akin to a therapeutic outpouring (there are indeed vox pops with fans outside the arena, sharing their personal tales of overcoming hardship thanks to Eilish’s music).

The majestic singer-songwriter is on top form with this rousing document of her most ambitious tour yet. It’s as immersive as a concert film can be, with Eilish and Cameron forming an unlikely, but surprisingly harmonious, creative partnership.