Beyonce’s Homecoming has left us with unanswered questions
The surprise release of Netflix documentary Homecoming: A Film by Beyonce, offered insight into the life the publicity shy Queen Bey. But once the credits rolled, these are the questions we’re left with, writes Victoria Hannaford.
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Like other avid viewers across the globe, I’ve been mesmerised by a TV epic, featuring a queen apt to slay everything in her path.
No, not Game of Thrones.
It’s the Netflix documentary Homecoming: A Film by Beyonce, a two-hour-and-17-minute depiction of the superstar’s 2018 Coachella performance and the gruelling rehearsals that led up to her critically-lauded show at the US music festival.
The film’s surprise release was an event that caused the sort of coverage and reaction you’d expect from the second coming.
RELATED: Netflix releases trailer for Beyonce ‘Homecoming’ documentary
The doc gives tantalising glimpses into the superstar’s private realm, pulling the curtain back just a little on the singer’s family life, as well as an even-better-than front row view of how a game-changing performance came together.
But even on a small screen flick that purports to give an insider’s view, Beyonce is a conundrum: massively famous, but publicity shy, unless it’s artfully curated and managed by Queen Bey herself.
She’s credited as the film’s director, so the titbits that made it to the final cut were clearly vetted by the star.
Yes, there were interesting details about her recovery after a difficult pregnancy and birth of her twins, Rumi and (the ridiculously named) Sir Carter, but many pressing questions remain unanswered.
It seems fans will never know what really happened in the elevator when Beyonce’s sister Solange lost her mind and whacked Jay Z, or who Becky with the good hair really is (or if it’s even possible that Becky’s hair could be better than Beyonce’s).
Yet fans went wild for the doc. Homecoming’s release coincided with 2019’s Coachella dates, which meant Beyonce even managed to overshadow top-billed artists at this year’s festival, where Kanye West gave his mysterious Sunday Service show a public airing, and Ariana Grande had a lemon thrown at her, which commentators managed to interpret as a Beyonce fan’s outrage expressed in citrus form (and doubling as a reference to Bey’s record Lemonade).
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But none generated anywhere near the excitement of Beyonce’s film about a 12-month-old performance.
And that’s because Beyonce’s documentary has the advantage of not being predictable. The film’s existence and release were unexpected, as were the details contained within. Homecoming was a multifaceted treat for viewers.
It’s all a far cry from long running TV juggernauts. We all know winter is coming and the final series of Game of Thrones is upon us.
As audiences with seemingly limitless viewing options at home, when it comes to fiction, we know the tropes, and we’ve seen genre conventions play out countless times before.
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The only surprises left to us come from the unpredictable, shocking and sometimes outright bonkers behaviour of humans living their best lives — in the case of Beyonce — or not-so-best lives, in the case of mere mortals who do something worthy of a documentary treatment.
The simple epithet of truth being stranger than fiction is the real reason we’re glued to true crime stories, or a star’s extraordinary performance, on the small screen.
And that’s part of what underpins Beyonce’s film, but the performance within is a potent reminder that you probably don’t have to search far for interesting experiences or stories to keep you entertained.
It’s all out there, in the world, whether it’s a wild tale from your mad uncle or going to a live concert from an outrageously talented artist.
Some of the best entertainment really rests on one thing: getting off your couch and out the front door to bear witness to real life. It’s a move that will be richly rewarded.
Victoria Hannaford is a columnist for The Sunday Mail
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