I’m gonna put this right out there: I’m not a Billie Eilish fan, but I have tons of respect for how she does what she does and why. Her whisper-soft style of singing has never been my thing, but she’s made an art of it, and she has amassed legions of fans who hang on her every lyric. The relationship between these fans and Eilish herself is examined throughout both the concert portions and interview sections of Hit Me Hard and Soft – The Tour (Live in 3D), a relationship which directors Eilish and James Cameron frame as symbiotic. She knows that without them, she wouldn’t be where she is, and this film shows exactly how she reciprocates through a high-energy performance and her giving, friendly presence.
Outside of “Bury a Friend,” “Bad Guy,” “Happier Than Ever” (which is undoubtedly my favorite of hers), “What Was I Made For?”, “Lunch,” and “Birds of a Feather,” I couldn’t identify or name any other Billie Eilish songs. But that’s okay, as this film wasn’t made for people like me. What this movie becomes is a love letter to her stage partners and fans, all of whom are in a room with one of this generation’s most unlikely pop heroes, and they’re all on board with her. It doesn’t matter what I think; as I said, I’m not a Billie Eilish fan, but my two teenage daughters are, and they’re this film’s audience. Watching it through their eyes was a delight, as they knew every song and all the stories behind them.
Eilish isn’t looking for new converts or to change anyone’s extant opinions of her with this snapshot of this moment in her life. She’s opening the doors to her onstage and backstage life on this tour, and she’s inviting us in. You won’t get any heavy confessionals or drama here; instead, Eilish and Cameron go straight into the show and its inner workings, asking us to be Eilish’s literal running buddy throughout, from meticulously evaluating her staging to her energetic crowd work and dance steps to scuttling around underneath the stage as she heads to her preordained marks. This is a concert film first and foremost, and a variety of 3D cameras puts us onstage with her (filmed at her Manchester and New Orleans shows in 2025), taking us all the way to her final bow.
James Cameron’s cameras get right in her face—and the faces of her band members, stage crew, and fans—and he goes hard in the paint with his 3D stylings. Seen in a Dolby Cinema theater, the 3D is fully immersive and well-used, putting us close enough to see the dust motes in the floodlight beams. Additionally, Hit Me Hard and Soft was shot at a high frame rate, dispensing with 24 fps flickering for a clean, clear picture that further pulls us into the you-are-THEREness of it all. We’re made to feel like part of the show, not just observers; staring out at the crowd (dude, put your cell phones down, y’all!) over Eilish’s shoulder or running around her stage behind her with the depth and lifelike accuracy these shooting methods impart is, quite simply, dazzling. The shot I’m thinking of happens in the early goings, where Eilish is jogging to all four corners and four sides of the figure-8 stage, whipping the crowd into a frenzy and getting them bouncing. She jumps over the corners of the two pits to get to the other sides, a practiced move that still feels a little dangerous, but the cameras hang in there with her, capturing every ounce of her uncontainable energy and passing it onto us.
Hit Me Hard and Soft doesn’t ever hurt for visual explosiveness, and it hits like a punch to the gut. I got so much enjoyment out of the show without knowing what the songs and their meanings were; I know if I were a fan, I’d have been even more overwhelmed. But all I had to do was look over at my kids’ faces and know that this was incredible for them. It’s not like The Eras Tour, full of stage production, costume changes, and dancers—the lack of which Billie Eilish discusses in a one-on-one scene with Cameron—but it doesn’t have to be; the simplicity and personal nature of this tour’s staging was the magic in and of itself. She even had me putting my fist up at the last line of “Happier Than Ever,” as her performance of this song was outstanding and so moving in a way that told me in plain language that Hit Me Hard and Soft is something truly special.
