Billie Eilish’s excellent new concert film “Hit Me Hard and Soft: The Tour (Live in 3D)” is one of the rare cases in which two Oscar winners direct: James Cameron and Eilish himself. An unlikely duo from two completely different worlds – the man who directed “Titanic” and the woman who wrote “Lunch.” (She won the Best Song Oscar twice: for the “Barbie” song that everyone knows and a James Bond theme that hardly anyone knows.) The film runs in 3D for a particularly immersive experience. But on the screen, as on the stage, Billie Eilish is unique.
“Hit Me Hard and Soft: The Tour (Live in 3D)” is their third concert film, following the animation-rich “Happier Than Ever: A Love Letter to Los Angeles” from 2021 and “Live at the O2” from 2023. Despite the 3D effects, it ends up being a straightforward presentation of a stripped-down stage show. Like the tour itself, it all boils down to Eilish — and the power of her deeply personal songs. No backstage doc with funny anecdotes behind the scenes. Nothing distracts from the emotional intimacy that Eilish exudes on stage when she belts out “The Greatest” or “Happier Than Ever” at the peak of her artistic career.
The show starts strong with “Chihiro” and “Lunch,” which set the tone for the entire concert – no dancers, no costume changes, no glitter, just Eilish bringing her songs to life. She works hard to create the feeling of a woman alone with her audience. At one point, she shows the camera the scrapes on her hands from running through the crowd to high-five fans.
On tour without Finneas
The Hit Me Hard and Soft Tour was their most ambitious live project to date. And the first she performed without her brother and musical companion Finneas O’Connell – the first time she faced the audience without him at her side. There’s a moving scene where she talks about how he sent her flowers for the opening night in Quebec – and she reads out the card he sent her with it.
The film is interspersed with interview sequences in which Eilish sits on a couch backstage and talks to Cameron, who has a huge camera on his shoulder – which has a slightly awkward, comic effect. Cameron has always been a technical wizard, not necessarily credited with a human touch, but he makes a real effort to speak the language of pop music on its terms. For most of the film he is the only person who interacts with her.
But the focus is entirely on Eilish, who makes it almost a solo program. “It’s all up to me, really,” she tells Cameron. “Every time I toured, I basically just ran around and jumped around. That comes from my love of rap and hip-hop and the fact that those were my favorite performers when I was younger. I just wanted the freedom to be like a guy on stage – shirtless, running around, jumping around. And the whole audience is just in awe of that one person on stage who makes the whole room jump.” This was the kind of performer she always wanted to be. “I had never seen a girl do something like that,” she says. “That’s also part of the reason why I don’t want a bunch of people on my stage – because I want to feel like it’s me and them.”
The Puppy Room
One of the most powerful moments: She takes Cameron to her backstage sanctuary, the Puppy Room, where she cuddles with dogs from a local animal shelter. “Tour is so brutal and so grueling,” she says. “I like having a puppy room so the boys can have somewhere to chill.” This is an integral part of her tour routine: “Everyone needs a little puppy love.” Cameron replies: “I’ll definitely do that on my next film too.”
The film reveals the secret behind some of her stage effects – such as a scene in which she is catapulted from a giant cube into the audience. A note on the inside of the cube helpfully informs: “We are in Manchester, England.” Everyone is very aware of the cameras – before the performance, the backing band chants: “One, two, three – 3D!” We briefly see her strained ankle being bandaged and her waving from a window to fans camping in the parking lot.
Aside from Cameron and her brother, she doesn’t come into contact with anyone; their private lives or inner experiences are not discussed. Her larger-than-life personality remains largely muted – she talks about her creative process regarding the live show (“I’m my own hair and makeup artist”) and her clothes, but not about the music-making or songwriting. The accompanying musicians look like office furniture. She is completely focused on the matter.
From debut to today
She revisits her classic 2018 debut with a rollicking “Bad Guy” and a fantastically eerie version of “Bury a Friend.” This is the original Billie Eilish the world first fell in love with: the quirky bedroom-pop conceptual artist behind “When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?” But the show focuses primarily on the confessional songs from her two subsequent albums, “Happier Than Ever” and “Hit Me Hard and Soft,” which raised her artistic level even further – even if the whole world would have been completely satisfied if she had continued in the same vein as her debut.
The film’s most powerful sequence comes near the end of the show, when Billie gets down to business – guitar in hand – and plays a trio of her most touching songs: “Your Power,” “Skinny” and “TV.” This is a breathtaking showcase for her as a songwriter, as a performer and as a pure voice that soars with raw emotion when she reflects: “21 took a lifetime.” “What Was I Made For” feels at once inevitable and irresistible – a deeply private lament that becomes an entirely different song once Eilish hands it over to the audience to sing along to.
The film’s biggest weakness: It suffers from too many cheesy close-ups of crying and grimacing audience members – a tired cliché of manipulative concert film dramaturgy that shouldn’t get in the way of such an original and powerful performance. The frequent close-ups of hands holding cell phones also don’t work well in 3D – there’s always the unpleasant feeling as if some stranger has held a cell phone in front of your face.
Charli XCX and the finale
For the most part, Eilish keeps her playful side in check. There’s a quick glimpse at the very end of her poking a human skeleton – there’s probably a funny story behind it, but that obviously wasn’t what she wanted to show in this film. She does, however, perform “Guess,” her wonderfully raunchy remix duet with Charli
Towards the end, Finneas makes an unexpected appearance on stage, sits down at the piano and accompanies her on “Lovely”. (“Surprise!” Billie shouts to the audience.) He visibly lifts her spirits a few notches. So many of Eilish’s innovations have changed pop music, and yet it’s easy to overlook how unprecedented what you experience in her connection with Finneas is – as simple as it may seem in retrospect. Seeing two siblings who love each other freely and without any neuroticism on the same stage – that’s something pop music has never really offered at any point in its history.
This has always been an undeniable key to the impact of this music. It’s even nicer when Finneas comes back to join in on guitar – and even sings a line – on “Happier Than Ever” and “Birds of a Feather”, ending the show, like the film, on a high. But there’s no doubt about it: the film, like the tour, is entirely Billie Eilish standing on her own two feet. It is unique – and the world is richer for seeing it in all its facets.
