Some of the reviews from my car after a preview screening of ONE DIRECTION:THIS IS US were “Amazing”, “I love them even more” and… “Such nice boys… their mother’s must be so proud”. Guess which one was from the mother in the car. Yes, you guessed it but I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised by the boys in One Direction after seeing their new documentary in theaters now.
ONE DIRECTION: THIS IS US is an all-access look at life on the road for the global music phenomenon. Weaved with stunning live concert footage, this inspiring feature film tells the remarkable story of Niall, Zayn, Liam, Harry and Louis’ meteoric rise to fame, from their humble hometown beginnings and competing on the X-Factor, to conquering the world and performing at London’s famed O2 Arena.
My daughters were so obsessed by them that I let them go with another mom friend of mine and stand in line for hours to see them perform on the Ellen Show. They blast their music in the car, in their rooms and when walking down the street. They buy their novelty shirts, magazines about them and even write 1D on their hands. I grew up very familiar with the boy band craze and I may have even been one of those nutty fans so I figured this was just my turn to be the mother who told their daughters to stop worshiping these one hit wonders until I saw this documentary. Now I have a new found love of One Direction myself.
The film begins giving viewers a detailed account (including audition tapes) of these young singers when they auditioned for the X Factor UK version. They all got cut as solo artists but Simon Cowell brought them together with the foresight to see them as a great boy band. What surprised even Cowell was how well received they were by the fans who kept them alive in the voting until the finale when they were not crowned the winners. Probably the best loss anyone can suffer. Fans were the ones who built their awareness up by Tweeting and Social networking about them so much that they were so popular without even having an album out yet!
Morgan Spurlock (Super Size Me) directed this documentary in 3D and while I could have done without that, I can still imagine the “wow” factor that even teenage girl feels as band member Harry Styles come flying out of the screen in to your lap during the concert footage. I was also a little more curious about how these boys could possibly find the time to date and while there were lots of girls crying in the audience, we did not get to see them with any girls who weren’t their moms. Speaking of moms and as a mom, I could not help but relate to one of the boy’s moms when she was traveling to their concert and lamenting that a mom should be showing her son the world but that her son was showing it to her. I couldn’t help but tear up when another spoke to his mom when she had just picked up the keys to her new house that he had purchased for her.
While I walked in to the movie a skeptic, I left there wanting to run home to purchase more One Direction music off of itunes for my “daughters”. Don’t miss ONE DIRECTION: THIS IS US in theaters now.
Website: http://1DThisIsUs-movie.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/onedirectionmusic
Twitter: Twitter.com/1DThisIsUs
Role Mommy 3.0