3D Review: Billie Eilish - Hit Me Hard and Soft

Added: 2026-05-16

[00:00:05]Billie Eilish hit me hard and soft. Confetti in 3D is the best thing ever. Spoiler [snorts] alert, at the end we see the guy has to clean all this up. A new 3D concert film, how wonderful it is to see. About 10 to 15 years ago, every artist on the planet was making a 3D concert video.

[00:00:28]Quality varied wildly. Some were sophisticated, but most were not, and the trend quickly vanished. Also, aside from Avatar, this might be the first live-action natively shot 3D film of any sort to receive a wide theatrical release this decade. How intriguing. The marquee claims otherwise, but the real star of this show is this crazy audience. People who arrive to have fun, like trees in some weird cell phone growing forest. The camera seems careful to capture them at every opportunity.

[00:01:05]They serve as an instrument as vital as any guitar or keyboard, loud in the mix and visually providing a pulsating heartbeat that carries this experience.

[00:01:16]Seen flat, a crowd tends to become a faceless mass. Stereo brings out the individuals. Our eyes are designed to zero in, to focus. When we see numerous 3D objects, the brain wants you to concentrate on one.

[00:01:35]And when you do, you pick out how they wobble, how they swing their cell phone, and that focus on the one brings you into that crowd, and you will as a viewer are no longer viewing this invisible mulch, but briefly occupying a particular spot within it. It brings you in and makes you part of things. For me, the most interesting 3D moment came from the mega selfie cam that had a couple of fisheye lenses attached looking like some alien antenna.

[00:02:05]I'm guessing it was a stereo 360 cam that let them both choose the frame and stabilize the image in post creating a handheld steady cam shot. Would love to have one of those. Fisheye stereo is rare and I have never seen it done to this extent and quality.

[00:02:25]Although it was a fun goof to have Billie stick her face in it, it worked best when facing that massive crowd of people. It's natural curve mimicking the feeling of being surrounded. Again, bringing the viewer into the show rather than dismissing them as a passive viewer. We do frequently get cutaways to interviews behind the scenes preparation and such. We are exposed to her radical puppy loving ideology and we also see her send love to desperate people sleeping on the sidewalk. And at one point Billie even invites on stage some homeless guy to sing with her. This is where we get treated to some beautiful web-like light flares bouncing off the camera making for a very dazzling song moment. Aside from this shot, light flare was actually very minimal which was surprising in this flashy high contrast environment. Light flares tend to distract in a stereo movie. And I've seen several 3D indie movies that could only dream of getting the light this clean.

[00:03:33]Another 3D concert videos, the behind the scenes stuff showing the staging grid work would often make the best stereo experience of the program. Not here though it's fun to see under the stage. The real fun happens where it's supposed to. The show begins with this see-through cage providing a weird translucent experience. I suppose it might represent being trapped inside the noise of your own head, or maybe it's an occult ode to the cube of Saturnus.

[00:04:03]Or perhaps the two are the same thing.

[00:04:05]If this were a Hollywood movie, this sort of intricate cagey curtain wouldn't get converted to 3D very well at all.

[00:04:12]So, it was a treat to see it in genuine stereo. Usually, I prefer the pure concert experience without cutaways or interviews. For me, those interruptions break the spell that music casts. Here, however, it wasn't too bad for about the first half of the show. The audience was intense, and the break served as a counterbalance to the energy. James Cameron was also constantly on screen like a proud grandpa doting over Billie. It had a charm to it, and it was interesting to see passive 3D screens still being used in the field. Later, however, when the slow songs came out, just past the midpoint, this energy relief was no longer needed, and those segments began to feel a little more intrusive. I noticed people in the theater checking the time on their phones around the mid 2/3 point. However, it regains energy towards the end, and at least in my theater, there are people dancing in the aisles. For a concert film, in my book, that's mission accomplished.

[00:05:15]Duh.

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