“This Is Us” might not be the One Direction movie I’d have made, I’d have gone with a “Spice World” meta-fiction myself, it is the one we got. 1D’s 2013 World Tour, up close and personal, starts at the beginning with the five members of the band Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, Niall Horan, Liam Payne, and Louis Tomlinson, as solo performers auditioning for the UK version of “The X Factor”, not making and Simon Cowell telling them to wait behind any way, and ending with a 60,000 seater Arena show in Europe and the announcement of a 2014 World Tour.
In between we watch the five piece now nearly 21 year olds travel the world on tour. Director Morgan Spurlock, slumming it after “Supersize It” is out of his element in the concert scenes (the recent “Morrissey25” is more 3D than Morgan could imagine in his wildest dreams) and is stuck with a story that works like a revolving door, but manages the difficult, he differentiates between the five members of the band and individuates them to an amazing degree.
The pressure of the world One Direction is living in comes at them in all directions, and the five all too typical boys are stuck trying to make it work for them. To enjoy the music and the world, the 10,000s of girls and the limited world they can exist in. They stop off to do some shopping in a Mall and end up surrounded in a Nike store. To be fair, why the hell they were all out together I don’t know, but the truth of the situation is the band can not and do not have a normal life. Liam’s father mentions he hasn’t spent five days at home since the X Factor auditions.
So who are the boys? You get an OK sense of them, and who they are is a lower middle class Inbetweeners.
Harry: Taylor Swift’s ex, is the ringleader, a Dennis The Menace of 1D, who returns to the bakery he used to work at and is warmly regarded so maybe he isn’t a dick. His Mom, who is a hot as hell MILF, is seen riding round Central Park in a horse and carriage with Liam’s mom and she is in shock, it is just completely surreal.
Liam: In theory, a nonentity , in this movie maybe the central figure. His dad almost in tears when he says how much he misses his son, a life size cut out of Liam scares him for the first two days he is back at home for a mid-tour break. The home is solid and lower middle class. It was Liam who defended the bands fans against their portrayal in the “Crazy ABout One Direction” Channel Four Documentary.
Niall: The “Shower of cunts” Irish boy is the real deal bad boy Harry only kinda is. But his love for his family shines through even if the kid doesn’t shine through on this show. He recorded “First Kiss” in his boxers.
Zayn: – The half Pakistani boy, who singlehandedly got the band the black vote, is strange and even in the whitewashed world of “This Is Us” is a disturbing outsider figure. He buys his Mom a house and she calls him and cries with happiness while he seems to squirm before the camera. Thatw as possibly the most, nearly almost, completely revealing moment. But if there was another revealing moment, it was Zayn painting a picture in his bedroom. The man is like a modern Heathcliff. He can’t stop brooding. PS he is also engaged to Perrie Edwards of Little Mix.
Louis: The nonentity of the group, I can’t remember a thing about him. He seems to be going along for the ride.
Or to put it another way:
Harry: McCartney
Liam: Harrison
Niall: Keith Moon
Zayn: Lennon
Louis: Starr
The director follows them on the road and the light hearted hi-jinx is the least believable moments of the movie. The 3D concert footage is pleasant enough though you wonder what Martin Scorcese (who makes an appearance with his Granddaughter) would have made with the same opportunity. There is nothing visceral about it, and nothing sexy, though the boys are sexy enough in a twinkley sorta way. The songs are pretty good and a couple of times a little more, the version of Wheatus “Teenage Dirtbag” is as thrilling as you would want it to be, and songs I loved on record, “Kiss You” and “One Thing” at the top of the list, are OK live.
Obviously, the concert footage can’t compare with seeing them in possible and the difference is the audience. To be in the midst of a One Direction audience is to be somewhere indeed and it is a little lost on screen. But give Morgan credit, he does try. It starts early, with 200 girls outside a studio waiting for the band after an “X Factor” appearance. “I haven’t see that before”, Cowell mentions.
Then, before a single song has been recorded, social media has taken over and a handful of “Directioners” have taken over and the band had become a UK, Europe, then US and world phenom. The scene in Japan is ridiculous. AT first I though nearly nobody had shown up but slowly the Airport panorama of their arrival widens and all you can see is fans. But really, screaming girls are screaming girls and they aren’t revealed very well. What should Morgan have done. Got a handful of superfans and put them in a room with the band.
I’ve always liked One Direction. Compared to other Boy bands, to everyone from NSYNC to The Wanted, they have a tart sweetness about them. Absolutely, this is a fabricated version of the bands but what isn’, did you want to see them in a different light? . At its best, it explains why 1D became so big it is revealing in the ways of chemistry and kindness. 1D are a good band and they deserve their success.
Grade: B+