U23D - An Oscar Worthy Performance

In my step-father’s CD collection, sandwiched between Led Zeppelin’s Houses of the Holy and Steely Dan’s Can’t Buy a Thrill, there was Joshua Tree staring back at me each morning while I waited for the school bus.  That was the late eighties.  Fast forward 10 years and in my college roommate’s CD collection, hiding between Radiohead’s OK Computer and Air’s 10,000 HZ Legend was Achtung Baby.  Once again a U2 cd had its sights set on my ears. 

I am ashamed to say that I have never personally owned any U2 albums. But then again, I haven’t needed to.  U2 has seemingly existed by my side, almost subconsciously throughout my life.  Hearing a U2 song and automatically singing the lyrics has become as second nature as The Beatles or Zeppelin.  And now, another 10 years later, bookended by the Ian Curtis biopic Control and Joe Strummer: The Future is Unwritten is another U2 production.  U23D and the other two films represent a new generation of music documentaries that are worthy of Oscar buzz, something music documentaries rarely receive. 

U23D starts and ends with numerical chanting.  It starts and ends with amazing 3D graphics and text.  In between these dramatic ends is a concert collage that rocks in a way reminiscent of the last 40 years of the 20th century.  After the intro imagery of concert goers racing into the stadiums, U2 blasts into Vertigo.  Cameras pan, spin, zoom and are about as dramatic as birds flying through the stadium, creating the best “seat” in the house.  This is U2 on stage in South America and it’s in 3D.  The 3D aspect of the film heightens the experience of actually being in the stadium(s) with the other 200,000 energetic fans.  About 20 seconds into Vertigo, water is thrown into the air and I for one definitely ducked to miss being splashed.  In 3ALITY, the water just missed my head, but in reality, the theater was as dry as before the concert began. 

As U2 smashes their way through Vertigo and Bono starts to hypnotize the crowd, a new band member appears.  It’s much larger than the other 4 band members and it much brighter.  A 70 foot tall collection of LCD screens begins to project imagery on them, creating yet another surreal aspect to the show.  Projections start to range from interpretations of the band members to airplanes flying over head, to buffaloes roaming the stage, to animations inferring love, peace and harmony throughout the world. 

The concert continues into the crowd friendly Beautiful Day and cameras continue to fly to every point possible in the various stadiums it was filmed in, getting candid shots of band members from above and the crowd from within.  Bono jumps around, the crowd continues their constant bounce, and the screen continues its interpretation of the events unfolding before it.  Each of the members of the band have moments where they are literally singing or playing three feet from your face.  Never been front row at a stadium show of 200,000 screaming fans?  This is your chance.  Front row seats have never seemed so elite.  The crowd is so real.  The experience teeters between the real and the surreal.  The energy is high and I found myself wanting to jump up and down in the second to last row of the IMAX Theater.  I wondered if everyone else felt the same way, but continued to bob my head and enjoy the show. 

We all know about Bono’s advocacy around the world and it is this character that becomes the center point of the film and could, if this was another planet maybe, be nominated for an Oscar.  Best Actor?  Why not.  And what about that massive screen behind the band?  Best Supporting Actor?  Why Not!  Somehow documentaries have been put into a sector that rarely includes anything outside of its own category.  And for that matter, a musical documentary hasn’t been nominated for an (best documentary) Oscar since Buena Vista Social Club in 1999 and one hasn’t won since Woodstock in 1970.  Between U23D, Control and the Joe Strummer film, we have a couple of documentaries/biopics this year that deserve the recognition from someone other than the independent festivals.  The Academy should take note.

This film has been praised for it’s technical accomplishments, with the 3D and all.  But, this film is about an experience that the average viewer would never have the chance to have.  200,000 people stadiums don’t exist in America.  Shows of this energy level barely exists anymore in any country.  Films of this level of interaction are nowhere to be found either.  In U23D, there is no longer a disconnect between the screen and the viewer.  They are One (no pun intended).  Theaters need more of these and if the word is correct, Avatar will be the next big breakthrough in this melding of screen and viewer.  Oh and did I mention the iPhone? 

The band ends (after a couple of encores) with a lovely version of Yahweh, as the credits roll and the animation continues.  Staying until the screen turns black is imperative, the ending animation is worth all the wait that this multimedia experience has created. 

Looks like Unforgettable Fire will find a new home on the shelf in between my copy of Hot Chip’s Made in the Dark and The Avett Brothers’ Emotionalism.  U2’s place in music culture hasn’t and this film has made that evident.  Coexistence is only a step away.

U23D is showing at the IMAX Theatre at Marbles Kids Museum in Downtown Raleigh.

 

 

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