Bieber mania

Justin Bieber: Never Say Never (2011)
Certified: U
Duration: 105 minutes
Directed by: Jon Chu
Starring: Justin Bieber
KRS release

Justin Bieber: Never Say Never is a polished and slick-looking picture which however left me cold as it seems just another marketing ploy by the singer’s record company and his management team.

Mr Bieber has so far released just one album and I wonder how this has already merited the making of a movie about his life, his concerts and, most of all, his hair! The film reeks of cashing in on his popularity before he grows up and ruins it all with his choices or his fan base outgrows him.

Do not get me wrong, Justin Bieber has the potential to become an even bigger star. The fresh-faced singer has a tangible quality to him and has also quite a presence on stage. The problem is the raison d’être of the film which I believe is wrong especially when it is combined with the latest fad in film-making – the 3D craze. In reality this element is not felt so much here. The picture follows the recent films in the same format by other teen sensations like Miley Cyrus and the Jonas Brothers, however, Mr Bieber’s film is better and improves on this template. In fact, this film has proved quite a success at the box office.

The film follows Mr Bieber and his team as they prepare for his concert at The Madison Square Garden in New York. In a parallel fashion, the film also shows the origins of the youth born to a single parent in Ontario, Canada. We are given an insight of his childhood through footage and a series of interviews with the singer’s mother, friends and grandparents.

The film chronicles how he found success through You Tube and how he was discovered by a record company person who used other social networking tools to turn the youth into such a household name. The documentary is laced with concert footage, interviews with his security personnel, producers and other pop stars such as Usher and Snoop Dogg who helped the young talent in his career. Throughout the documentary there are also comments from his fans that all seem to be female and pertain to the eight to 16 years of age bracket. Most of their comments seem to be about his smile, his face, his eyes and, mostly, his hair… his music seems to take second place.

The film unsuccessfully tries to inject some tension into the proceedings when Mr Bieber strains his vocal chords just a few days prior to the all important concert. The audience knows that the concert has taken place and this defuses the situation of any tension. The film is also littered with guest appearances by personalities such as Usher and Miley Cyrus . The film has almost a Disney-like quality to it as it presents the singer as the boy-next-door kind of youth. Emphasis is made on the management and support team behind the singer. The film’s intended audience will faithfully endorse the fans’ comments such as “I think about him 99 per cent of my life” or “One day I tweeted him 100 times”.