Katy Perry: A Part of Me 3D
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Katy Perry: Part Of Me
A documentary that chronicles Katy Perry's life on and off-stage.
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It took over an hour to get her inside the cinema, such was the hysteria that greeted Katy Perry as she arrived to premiere her documentary film Katy Perry: A Part of Me 3D in Australia.
Perry's fanatical army of fans or Katy Cats, as they're known swelled in and around Sydney's George Street cinema complex Saturday night, as the singer-songwriter stopped to pose for photographs, sign autographs and thank Australia for its unending support.
"I've got Australian tears on me now," she quipped, when she did finally make it inside, to introduce the film: a fly-on-the-wall, personally financed document of a tumultuous year. It takes in the dizzy highs of her year-long, 124-date global trek in 2011 and the miserable lows of her marriage breakdown from British comedy actor Russell Brand.
Popstar Katy Perry at her movie premiere in Sydney. Photo: Dallas Kilponen
The ! Californ ia Girls singer daughter of a Pentecostal minister readily admits the film captures her triumphant year warts and all, and warned it would make her Katy Cats laugh, cry and sing. "Maintain composure, represent your country well," she added, with a grin.
The film directed by TV's Jane Lipsitz and Dan Cutforth (Project Runway) echoes the sentiments of another tween star's journey, Justin Bieber, whose concert film Never Say Never also charted the dogged determination of a youth born to be a star (it sailed past the $US100million mark at the box office).
At 27, Perry has seen her own career which began in gospel surrounds at 15, only to survive a string of record label missteps reach the record books. She is the first female star to have five consecutive US number one singles off one album (2010's Teenage Dream) and only the second to do so after Michael Jackson (with 1987's Bad). Forty-million album and single sales later, she has only Lady Gaga to count as a serious competitor.
Although the new concert film dodges earlier personal issues notably, the breakdown in 2008 of Perry's relationship with long-time beau, US rapper Travis McCoy Lipsitz and Cutforth are at pains to show the star as a normal human being. We see her reluctantly being dragged out of bed by her minder, sans make-up. She even talks on camera about her break-up with Brand (who's blamed for the marriage collapse in late 2011, and subsequent divorce petition, filed on December 30).
Most telling is a near-catatonic state the singer is in prior to taking the stage in Brazil, having just heard from Brand that it's over. Curled up into a near-fetal position, sobbing uncontrollably, her assistants she surrounds herself with family and long-time friends look on powerless to act (although they do manage to provide commentary to camera). Perry's eventual leap to avoid cancelling the show is both admirable and slightly disconcerting: given the sudden switch, there is for one! brief m oment a niggling feeling that we could be witnessing a very different kind of performance.
That aside, Perry complete with an array of zany, figure-hugging outfits (one is covered in multi-coloured light bulbs) delivers a grand, teen-friendly show, complete with dancers, lights, lasers and family-friendly banter. She's ever-so-slightly saucy, in a wholesome, girl-next-door kind of a way. Even her Christian-fearing mom can be seen singing along (to Perry's breakout hit, I Kissed a Girl). And she meets some very young fans backstage (and even invites some up onto stage as well).
Perry clearly knows how to thank her supporters. She seems genuinely appreciative of their devotion. And, like her younger male counterpart Justin Bieber, there's nothing in her act to cause parental concern. Essentially, she is indeed living the teenage dream. Which is what fans will want to witness on screen, writ large.
Stars Katy Perry, Russell Brand, Shannon Woodward, Lucas Kerr, Rachael Markarian, Johnny Wujek, Todd Delano.
KATY PERRY: A PART OF ME 3D is in cinemas from today.