Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé

In cinemas now

There have been many great artists in the annals of human history, but only the cultural impact of a select few can be charted across multiple decades. Beyoncé is one such artist. As she coolly reminds her enthralled audience at the beginning of this concert film, she’s been plying her trade since 1997. Since then, she has won more Grammy (32), MTV Music Video (26), NAACP Image (24), BET (35), and Soul Train Music (17) awards than any other musician.

However, this cinematic retelling of the conception, production, and jubilant execution of the 2023 Renaissance world tour underlines that legacy more emphatically than perhaps any of her preceding output. That’s partly because it is a celebration of her titular seventh studio album, which simultaneously served as an artistic rebirth and a tribute to inclusive sub-cultures such as post-1970s dance music and ballroom.

Renaissance is also a candid and, at times, intimate insight into its usually guarded subject, specifically the motivations that drive her to continue performing. Over the course of the film, Beyoncé openly discusses her obsessive creative process, how she balances being a businesswoman, mother, and performer, and the myriad of influences and traumas that inspire her work. All of this serves as a rare and rewarding insight into the mindset of a once-in-a-generation star, with the exhilarating concert footage underpinning that assertion further.

Equally rewarding is the way in which Renaissance reiterates music’s unparalleled ability to unite people from all walks of life and provide them with a safe and accepting place to cry, dance, laugh, and sing in equal measure. That is a unifying quality that can be found in seldom other places, and credit must go to Beyoncé (who wrote, directed, and produced this picture) and her creative entourage for encapsulating that through a medium that is altogether different to their chosen field.

With Renaissance currently posting as the eighth highest-grossing tour of all time, the second highest-grossing tour ever by a female artist, and the highest-grossing tour by a black artist, it would take the most blinkered of critics to deny Beyoncé her flowers at this point in her career. This is a crowning moment for one of the most essential and empowering performers of any generation, and a guaranteed good time that is more than worth the price of admission.