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

by Mike McGranaghan

I have a lot of respect for Billie Eilish. She’s undeniably one of the most inimitable musical artists out there today. She has a unique voice, and her songwriting is bold and filled with substance. That said, I don’t own any of her music and, her theme song from No Time to Die aside, I have never intentionally sought it out. After seeing Billie Eilish - Hit Me Hard and Soft: The Tour (Live in 3D), maybe I’ll start. This concert documentary, co-directed by Eilish and James Cameron, captures the strong hold her entire vibe has on the fans. If you don’t get all the fuss beforehand, you will after seeing it.

The singer performs on a large rectangular stage in the middle of the stadium, allowing everyone to have a good look at her, and allowing her to have a good look at them. Her band members perform inside two small pits built into the stage. Late in the movie, Eilish explains that she doesn’t like many people onstage with her because she wants the audience to feel like “it’s just me and them.” The importance of that connection quickly becomes apparent; Cameron gets a lot of shots of young female audience members crying as they watch their idol.

Eilish goes through a series of her most popular songs, from “Bad Guy” to “Bury a Friend” to the Oscar winning Barbie theme “What Was I Made For?” During the upbeat numbers, she runs around the stage, dancing like a maniac as lights flash and lasers pulse. For the slower songs, she creates an intimate feeling that emphasizes the sensitive nature of the lyrics. (Cue the crowd crying.) Brother Finneas O’Connell shows up for a couple numbers, too.

3D cameras are literally everywhere in Hit Me Hard and Soft. They’re in the audience, all over the stage, in the spaces underneath the stage, woven amid the rigging, and even in Eilish’s hand. During “Bad Guy,” she puts a handheld 3D camera on the floor and bends over above it, her long hair surrounding the lens. The effect makes it look like she’s right up in your face. The ubiquity of those cameras helps her achieve the “just me and them” goal. That extra dimension puts viewers right up there with her. No other 3D concert documentary has been as gloriously detailed.

In between numbers, there are interview segments with Eilish wherein she talks about her image, her insecurities, and what she hopes to accomplish with the tour. We’re treated to behind-the-scenes glimpses of sound checks and rehearsals, along with Eilish and Cameron discussing how they’re going to shoot specific actions. There’s even a sweet scene of the singer banging on her hotel window to get the attention of fans camped out on the sidewalk. Several fans are interviewed during a brief intermission; they open up about how Eilish’s songs have helped them through difficult times.

The only drawback - for those who aren’t obsessed, at least - is that Eilish has a lot of slow songs. When you see all the 3D razzle-dazzle of the upbeat numbers, an excess of ballads seems to slow down the pace. That’s a minor nitpick. On balance, Billie Eilish - Hit Me Hard and Soft: The Tour (Live in 3D) fulfills its purpose of showcasing Eilish’s immense talent and conveying her status as the era’s most confessional artist whose bond with her admirers suggests she’ll continue to have a fruitful career for a long, long time.