Jade Opal

Not a documentary since it does nothing to personalize Ariana Grande, more so just shows her being more of a manufactured caricature, which is what was my existing perception of her. Ariana and I are the same age and I cant relate to her at all. I really wanted to, which is why I watched to begin with. All I can do with this filmed concert is just critique a concert I would have never gone to anyway. Unfortunately, I was a bit disappointed with the concert itself. She sings phenomenally and she looks pretty doing it, but Id rather be her backup dancer than HER as they seem to have more personality during the behind the scenes moments than this pop star I'm supposed to care about. I do like some of the stage design choices like the smoke vignette during Needy (love!), and the mirror ball images, but other than that the lighting and costumes were poor and the choreography was... just enough to get by. This film did nothing to make me actually respect Ariana as a person like the Taylor Swift film did. I may not be a TS fan but I can now see her as a person with agency in her life who has grown up, but Ariana isn't there yet. She's not even actually a person yet, so the film seems premature. Only really great if you're already a stan.

Watching this as a black woman, I suspected this would be a tragedy in disguise from the beginning. I was waiting for the other shoe to drop until the last 10 minutes of the film when I realized no major plot change would come. It was so hard for me to believe that this underapprectiated black mother was truly living the life she wanted. Maybe I'm just a cynic and this film is the romantic comedy black mothers always needed, or maybe this film is about the dying fantasy of a black woman with a mental illness who goes undiagnosed and missing, and her spirit finds peace on the shores of California. I would love to hear the director's thoughts. I really want to know the intention behind this film because the symbolism and my lived experience tells me one thing but the wanderlust romance formula and these raving reviews about how great the chemistry was between Viola Davis and this dude are telling me another.