Justin Bieber: Never Say Never


The pull of fame ... Justin Bieber in the calculated but enlightening documentary.
A cleverly crafted biopic enhances a legend but still reveals the madness.
Michael Jackson departed this life in June 2009 as 15-year-old Justin Bieber was beginning his run to stardom and it is impossible to look at Bieber and not think of Jackson. Bieber's onstage style, his vocal mannerisms, his dancing, the form and content of his songs, all descend from Michael Jackson, with an overlay of hip-hop rhythms - but that's unsurprising.
Everybody in pop owes something to Jackson, if only for the way he revolutionised the world of the music video.
I'm thinking of something more - the sense of childish talent hurtling towards pop burnout. On the surface, this is a joyous celebration of the Biebster's astonishing rise to pop's top shelf and a gift to his devoted if slightly scary female fans, but I watched it with a sense of unease, wondering where it would end. Can anybody survive this much fame and power, let alone a moppet with the face of a choir boy?
Bieber is the internet's Johnny B. Goode. Instead of a log cabin way back up in the evergreens, he grew up relatively poor in a small town in Ontario, Canada, with a single mother who worked low-wage jobs. Pattie Mallette is a strong presence in the film but enigmatic. She had Justin when she was 18. His father, Jeremy, split when the child was 10 months old, although we see him with tears in his eyes in the wings at one concert.
Justin's maternal grandparents are clearly a major source of his considerable self-confidence but his mother says his gifts come from God. That's how she talks - believing he was ''destined''. She took videos of him banging on drums and thrashing a guitar as a tiny kid. Later, she posted videos of his ''tweenage'' vocalising on YouTube, where they took off. YouTube and Twitter have been crucial in his rise.
I don't remember seeing what church they attended in Stratford, Ontario, but I'm betting it's evangelical. Justin and his mother moved to Atlanta when he signed with an American record label. The film shows him returning briefly to Stratford, where he is a local celebrity. We see him sharing a pizza with his best buddies - after they say grace.
This might be for the camera but probably not. The extensive Bieber music team gathers in a tight circle before each concert to pray.
The film is built around the lead-up to his debut concert at Madison Square Garden - the pinnacle of American popular music - last August. Tickets sold out in about 20 minutes but the film constructs a crisis around this event. Justin has a sore throat. There is some doubt that he will be able to perform.
His managers cancel a concert three days before the MSG date. A New York specialist pokes around in the famous Bieber pipes, shaking his head. Justin has to stop talking, difficult for a 16-year-old who's full o' beans.
The concert is in the midst of an 86-date tour but no one asks the obvious question: if his vocal cords are inflamed, surely he is working too hard? That's the problem with films made by your own management team.
The Atlanta-based music executive who discovered him, Scooter Braun, is the film's executive producer, as well as his manager.
That means that every scene, and every moment in every scene, is calculated to enhance the legend. The film is at least as crafted as one of his songs. This is ''the star-maker machinery behind the popular song'', to quote Joni Mitchell.
Even so, the camera can't help but reveal more than intended. With something so big, moving so fast, no one is completely in control. Just turning the camera on gives us a sense of the madness surrounding Bieber, who seems to have risen faster than anyone in pop music history.
He is surrounded by people who want to protect him. That's one of the messages of the film: his people love him, no harm can come to him, we still have our feet on the ground.
Another is that he adores his fans, who are basically harmless. In fact, he can only see them in strictly controlled situations. As their mothers and grandmothers did with Sinatra and the Beatles, they will tear the shirt from his back, given a chance. There's a brief scene where he tries to go out unattended. It quickly gets out of hand, as it did during his visit to Sydney last year.
The concert footage is expertly handled. With the megastar Usher as his mentor, Bieber has become an accomplished performer in a very short time. The songs are incredibly catchy, within the narrow range of the rules of pop. He can hold 20,000 fans in his thrall in the Garden, nearly all of whom want to marry him. I could not actually see any blokes. Many of the women and girls were in tears, incredibly happy to be in close proximity. Of course, I doubt they could hear him, given the screaming, but that's entertainment. Go Johnny, go, go, go.

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