Billie Eilish: The World's a Little Blurry
Billie Eilish makes for fascinating company in an epic documentary on her life so far.
I Am Billie: Billie Eilish
One
cannot begin
to overestimate the phenomenon that is Billie Eilish. Aged just
eighteen years (and one month), she took home five Grammy Awards in one
go, only the second artist in history to do so. Last Sunday she won two
more Grammys, for Record of the Year (‘Everything I Wanted’) and for
Best Song written specifically for a visual medium (TV, film, video
games, etc), both of which she co-wrote with her brother Finneas
O'Connell. Apparently, they cooked up the latter on a bus in Texas and
recorded it in Finneas’ bedroom. The song, ‘No Time to Die’, was meant
to open the twenty-fifth James Bond film last April. Even so, it went
straight to the top of the UK charts. Her debut studio album, When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?
(2019), also hit No. 1 on both sides of the Atlantic. And with 73 million
followers on Instagram, the blue-eyed, green-haired mouthpiece for teenage
angst isn’t going away anytime soon.
Most
music-themed bio-documentaries, like Asif Kapadia’s Amy, Lili Fini Zanuck’s Eric Clapton: Life in 12 Bars and Kevin
Macdonald’s Whitney, tend to
leave one in a state of shock. But Billie Eilish Pirate O’Connell is a gentler
beast. She still lives at home with her parents and her dog Pepper and at the
end of R.J. Cutler’s 141-minute, fly-on-the-wall documentary she counts her
blessings. She acknowledges the love and support of her family, the adoration
of her fans, the trail of glittering prizes, her slick black Dodge Challenger
and, admits in a moment of grateful immodesty, “…I am pretty.” She has everything to live for. So why would anybody want
to share her privileged little dream world for such an extended running time? R.J.
Cutler, who previously directed critically acclaimed documentaries on Anna
Wintour and John Belushi, certainly knows his craft. Like Nathan Grossman’s I Am Greta, this is an intimate diary of
a teenage girl thrust into the international spotlight. And the art of both
Cutler and Grossman is to appear invisible to their respective subjects, yet always
being in the right place at the right time. While Eilish has her causes – animal
rights and veganism – she appears to be a more self-centred individual, and
flies around the planet at the drop of a contract. But she’s a better
singer-songwriter than Greta Thunberg, and it’s her talent that drives the
documentary.
Her breathy
vocals, infectious hooks and profound candour make for disarming cinema. And
with the wisdom of youth, her words have engaged a generation, a fan base she
describes as being an extended part of her psyche. Pre-lockdown we see oceans
of young, tear-stained female faces staring up at the stage behind glowing
iPhones. Indeed, this is a lachrymose epic. She meets a handsome Englishman who
takes her in his arms and whispers, “this is the universe.” Later, when she
discovers that that Orlando Bloom fellow is Will Turner in Pirates of the Caribbean, she goes mental. But the big moment is saved
for her introduction to her teenage idol, Justin Bieber. They have already
become friends via cell phone, but when they first meet – recorded for
posterity – it is a true Richard Curtis conceit. He removes his face mask, embraces
her and doesn’t let go. It’s an instance of celebrity alchemy, like when Chopin
met Liszt. There are also disagreements with her parents, an extended rant in
New York – about the pressure of always having to be “on” – and unguarded
moments on the phone with her ‘secret’ boyfriend, the rapper Brandon ‘Q’ Adams.
Whatever one thinks of Billie Eilish – her polychromatic hair, bag-lady wardrobe
and occasionally bizarre pronouncements – she makes for fascinating company. Home-schooled,
incapacitated by HSD (hypermobility spectrum disorder) and indubitably talented,
she is the troubled, articulate voice of her generation.
JAMES CAMERON-WILSON
Featuring Billie Eilish, Finneas O'Connell, Maggie
Baird, Patrick O'Connell, Brandon ‘Q’ Adams, Katy Perry, Orlando Bloom, Justin
Bieber, Ariana Grande.
Dir R.J. Cutler, Pro R.J. Cutler, Anthony Seyler, Trevor Smith, Chelsea Dodson, Michelle
An, Jay Peterson, Todd Lubin and Mark DiCristofaro, Screenplay R.J. Cutler, Ph
Jenna Rosher, Ed Lindsay Utz and Greg
Finton, Music Billie Eilish and Finneas
O'Connell.
Interscope Films/The Darkroom/Boat Rocker Media/Matador Content/Machine/Lighthouse Media & Management-Apple TV+.
141 mins. USA. 2020. Rel: 26 February 2021. Available on AppleTV+. Cert. 15.