Besides her spine-tingling Coachella performance, the glorious concert documentary shows the star rehearsing, enjoying her family and longing for food
“Ladies, ladies, ladies … are we smart? Are we strong? Have we had enough of the bull—-?” – Beyonce, onstage at Coachella in 2018.
Mom is hangry.
Mom tells us she was 218 pounds when she gave birth to twins after a very difficult pregnancy, and now she’s trying to whip herself into shape on a tight deadline, and she’s not going to lie:
It sucks.
“In order for me to meet my goal,” she says, “I’m limiting myself to no bread, no carbs, no sugar, no dairy, no meat, no fish, no alcohol … and I’m hungry!”
Of all the spine-tingling and breathtaking and grand and glorious and inspirational and badass moments in “Homecoming,” Beyonce’s 137-minute Netflix documentary about her iconic performances at Coachella 2018 (and the grueling, eight-month rehearsal process leading up to that widely hailed show), why would I lead with this relatively insignificant anecdote?
Because we already knew the onstage footage would blow us away. How could it not?
Because these quieter moments are somehow as engrossing as the gigantic and electric performance numbers.
Because it’s just one small example of how Beyonce the director is so well-suited to make a movie about Beyonce the life force.
When Beyonce took the stage at Coachella in April of 2018 for the first of two performances held on successive weekends, she was the first African-American to headline the festival, which was founded in 1999.
By the time the curtain closed on Coachella, Beyonce’s concerts were already being hailed as landmark achievements.
A straightforward, stand-alone compilation of performance highlights would have made for must-see viewing — but it’s the little moments of insight and candor, as well as the “All That Jazz”-style rehearsal footage and (most significantly) the big-picture historical context that help elevate “Homecoming” to something even more memorable.
