tool name

close
tool goes here

Person behind pop star revealed

Making a serious documentary about aggressively over-the-top pop star Katy Perry might seem a bit like trying to grab hold of a cloud. Yet directors Dan Cutforth and Jane Lipsitz manage to balance the outlandish with the painfully personal in “Katy Perry: Part of Me,” a 3-D concert film/ biography hybrid.

Published: July 6, 2012 at 12:05 a.m. PDT
0 comments

Making a serious documentary about aggressively over-the-top pop star Katy Perry might seem a bit like trying to grab hold of a cloud. Yet directors Dan Cutforth and Jane Lipsitz manage to balance the outlandish with the painfully personal in “Katy Perry: Part of Me,” a 3-D concert film/ biography hybrid.

Cutforth and Lipsitz have been here before, with last year’s similarly positioned “Justin Bieber: Never Say Never.” In that film, as in this briskly paced outing, the goal is twofold: Sate the rabid fan base with beautifully photographed concert footage, and fashion a mythic narrative as a white-hot career continues its ascension.

“Part of Me” tags along on Perry’s 2011 international arena tour, doggedly following her across the country and around the world. It’s an eye-opening account of the toll maintaining such a grueling pace exacts not only on the star of the show, but her support staff as well.

Intercut with the gaudy, flashy set pieces from her “California Dreams” tour — the 3-D technology is put to good use here, immersing viewers in bubbles, feathers and foam — are interviews with the pop star, Perry’s family and friends, and her early defenders, like producer Glen Ballard and music publicist Angelica Cob-Baehler. Across the board, Perry is hailed as a hard-working iconoclast, willing to put in the hours, if occasionally a bit naive about the outcome.

To Perry’s credit, she allows the filmmakers several revealing peeks behind the cotton-candy facade, including a heartbreaking sequence late in the film as her high-profile marriage to comedian Russell Brand collapses. Her concerned assistant and manager looking on, Perry is crumpled up, wracked with sobs and worlds away from the confident, bubbly sexpot she portrays on stage. It’s a humanizing moment for a performer often dismissed as little more than a living cartoon.

“Katy Perry: Part of Me” presents a familiar trajectory, and often tips over into hagiography, but there’s a sympathetic person at its core. Given the generally hollow, cynical nature of the music industry, evoking genuine pathos is the film’s most impressive special effect. ‘KATY PERRY: PART OF ME’

* * *

Cast: Katy Perry, Russell Brand, Shannon Woodward

Directors: Dan Cutforth, Jane Lipsitz

Running time: 1:35

Rated: PG; suggestive content, strong language, thematic elements, smoking

JOIN THE DISCUSSION | Register here

We welcome comments. Please keep them civil, short and to the point. ALL CAPS, spam, obscene, profane, abusive and off topic comments will be deleted. Repeat offenders will be blocked. Thanks for taking part — and abiding by these simple rules. A thorough explanation of rules of conduct can be found in our Terms of Service. If you have any questions, including why your comment may not be showing immediately after you submit it, be sure to visit the commenting FAQ.

Katy Perry performs in the 3-D film “Katy Perry: Part of Me. (PARAMOUNT PICTURES)
CONTESTS

Similar stories

  • Coppola's 'Bling Ring' at home at decadent Cannes

    Sofia Coppola was just 8 years old when she first came to the Cannes Film Festival. Her father, Francis Ford Coppola, was there to premiere a work-in-progress cut of a film he had spent years wrestling with: "Apocalypse Now."

  • Made in Oregon road film

    “Redwood Highway” could be labeled a coming-of-age film but for one small disqualifier: Its protagonist is a 75-year-old woman. Call it instead a coming-of-the-aged drama.

  • Thai ghost film remake appeals with funny twist

    Thais' deep affection for ghost stories and laughter has brought a new phenomenon to movie theaters - comic touches added to an oft-told tragedy of true love, which have made the latest adaptation of the Mae Nak legend into the all-time highest-grossing Thai film.

  • Get ready for Gaga

    The trend-setting Lady Gaga last wowed her fans in Tacoma on Aug. 21, 2010, during her Monster Ball tour. On Monday, she’s bringing her Born This Way Ball tour to the Tacoma Dome, the first U.S. stop on the tour. Check out our 10 Reasons to Go Gaga over Gaga.

  • Hot off the press: Seen and heard in Cannes

    Associated Press journalists open their notebooks at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival: