Justin Timberlake + the Tennessee Kids

Here's what sets apart a director like Jonathan Demme from the average journeyman or hired-gun, and certainly one must note that one could have made a concert/documentary movie about Justin Timberlake performing with the Tennessee Kids in Las Vegas in entertaining fashion and style simply by presenting the group as is. The energy is difficult not to capture from Timberlake who, however you feel about his songs, is a massively talented singer and who makes sure to give these people who likely paid several dozen arms and legs and other limbs to make it to see his live (final on this tour) performance with this great back- up band. But what Demme adds to the equation is genuine human interest and a sense of cutting and framing that is unparalleled; seriously, if Scorsese had directed this it wouldn't have been as interesting as what Demme does.

This is truly a masterpiece. The music, the visuals, the spoken word. Everything is on par. There are so many feelings felt throughout Lemonade. I've never seen anything quite like it. Justin Timberlake has changed the entire music game forever. I highly recommend that EVERYONE watches this, it is a life changing experience.

It's really in the opening and the closing one sees it most; the film opens as Timberlake enters the arena where the concert is being held, but instead of the usual vapid things like getting make-up on or showing total foolishness, he gets the Tennessee Kids to introduce themselves. It's a good idea and it gets one intrigued; these aren't necessarily people who are there to look pretty and nice, they're career musicians who have been together for a while and they're happy to be doing what they do (one singer says she always has a smile on, and we can believe it, it's not disingenuous).

Along with the main attraction, they put on a helluva show, and Demme makes sure as a director to get an appropriate tone depending on what song is up - so when it's just Timberlake with his guitar, he stays on him, where-as if there's a number involving EVERYONE (including the audience, and unlike Stop Making Sense he does involve them since, frankly, Timberlake is the kind of performer that asks the audience to come in on songs with him, not obnoxiously so but enough to keep things energized), he has a crane shot showing everyone in the arena, and then goes in close and captures the camaraderie of the musicians.

Having seen the 20/20 tour myself, I was excited to relive the memories of the amazing night we had. It was the best concert I've ever been to. Justin's energy and personality Made you feel every single song and dance along to them. The band was phenomenal, they played so well and gave all the JT Classics a new but familiar tune. The last song gave me the bumpiest goosebumps I had in a long time.

Now I can see that being there at the venue and watching a taping of it is a completely different story. But.. the editing made it so much less enjoyable than it could've been. The cuts are boring, the camera angles don't give you the feeling of that huge crowd and that amazing night it was. You barely see the audience at all. Sometimes the camera randomly pans back & forth between JT and a Band member while showing an almost black frame for 5 seconds or so. The editing is sooo slow. So, Go watch it if you like JT. It was good overall but with better camera work and editing it could've been A LOT better.