At only 19-years-old, pop singer Billie Eilish has already experienced the level of high-pressure stardom, all-eyes-on-her success that most pop stars take decades to accrue. As the internet and entertainment world at large reawaken to the toxic culture surrounding celebrity in the wake of the “Framing Britney Spears,” there’s no better moment to take another scrutinizing eye to the way female artists are treated in the unforgiving, over-sexualizing music industry. That said, the documentary about Gen Z electric pop wunderkind “Billie Eilish: The World’s a Little Blurry” is never quite as clear-eyed as it could be about the story it wants to tell—something about perseverance, the unifying power of family, the normal difficulties of being a teenage girl on top of pop stardom. Instead, a ‘Little Blurry’ is just that and gets wrapped up in creating a lengthy montage of the ups and down’ of teen stardom in its extensive two-hour-plus runtime while never quite illuminating who Eilish is beyond some of the stereotypes of teenage girldom. The documentary wants to show the extraordinary aspects of her new world as her career suddenly explodes, and her world goes topsy turvy. It goes on to depict how she creates her Grammy award-winning debut album “When We Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?” and sets forth on her world tour, while also illustrating the mundanities of being a teenager such as getting her drivers license. “The World’s a Little Blurry” tries too hard to give a full picture of talent on the rise and, by doing so, scrambles itself, leaving us with snapshots instead.
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For the singer’s fans, plenty of what’s shown of her origin story will be familiar, such as the songwriting process with her older brother Finneas O’Connell, and her debut song “Ocean Eyes,” uploaded to SoundCloud, becoming a smash hit, and leading to white-hot fame. The film, directed by R.J. Cutler (“Belushi,” “If I Stay”), began filming in 2018 and runs all the way up to her massive Grammy sweep in early 2020, where she dominated the competition, besting huge stars like Ariana Grande, Lana Del Ray, Lady Gaga and more. Primarily shot when she was only 17-years-old, for all the glamour of touring and seeing the world, ‘A Little Blurry’ makes sure to depict the singer’s low points and emotional challenges — from the deterioration of a relationship with her rapper boyfriend to technical mishaps at Coachella, and a show in Milan that begins in tears when the singer, already suffering from multiple physical ailments, falls and sprains her ankle. By the time Eilish wins all four major awards at the 2020 Grammys and becomes the youngest artist to do so, it’s a stark reminder that for all her success, this is just the beginning of her career and perhaps she hasn’t even fully-formed as a person yet.
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Cutler clearly wants to infuse the film with personal elements that show the real teenager beyond the-voice-of-Gen-Z-generation audiences have become so enamored with. For the most part, the documentary succeeds with Eilish being easily excited, goofy, moody, and temperamental —as any teenage girl is. The familial unit she’s surrounded by, is loving and supportive, one that fostered artistic expression as she and her brother grew up, both home-schooled by similarly artistic parents. However, at a lengthy 2 hours and 25 minutes, that need to show the “normal life” of the star leads to scenes of pointed mundanity that fail to do more than add to the already expansive runtime (it even comes with an intermission).
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Even the instances where Eilish’s star shines brightest—when she’s on stage — are often dimmed by uninventive filmmaking. The stages and crowds Eilish play to look electric, but that energy isn’t always captured on-screen as brightly as it should be. Instead, we’re left to assume what’s felt in the moment with sweet shots of young women, tearfully singing along to a raw rendition of one of her songs, “I Love You.” Some landmark moments seem rushed through, such as her and her brother recording the theme song for the new Bond film “No Time to Die,” as well as the night of the Grammys.
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It’s odd to see what the documentary chooses to pay attention to over the crazy few years that Eilish experienced. Singer Justin Bieber is placed on a pedestal in the film as Eilish was a longtime admirer of the pop star who similarly rose to stardom at a very young age. Eilish admits to having been obsessed with him, and when she finally meets him is overcome, and the camera makes sure to stay on them as Bieber holds a crying Eilish. The documentary even ends on his congratulatory call to her after her Grammy wins. It’s incredible how much time is spent on her idolization of Bieber, given his story is a near-cautionary tale that almost went south.
Instead, the greater moments are again the hints of the star to come, and maybe that’s the inherent problem with a documentary made so early in the process of a still-developing human and artist. As Eilish continues to take the reins of what kind of artist she wants to be, seen directing her first music video for the song “Everything I Wanted,” and definitely flexing agency with the directors she works with, ‘A Little Blurry,’ often just seems like the tip of the iceberg; chapter one in what will likely be a long and fruitful story. Still, it’s that nascent effect, the nagging feeling this is only a brief (but overlong) snapshot of who she is, does impair the film a little bit. Still, whether you’re a fan of her music or not — and for as many die-hard fans as there are, there’s plenty of dissenters — it’s fascinating to watch a singer come into her own, establishing her still-forming identity in a rapidly shifting industry. Hopefully, Cutler will stick around, watch the development and, see what more can emerge in the future. [B-]