Missed the three-hour, "fan-fulfilling" Taylor Swift concert when it came to town in June? Well, strap on your Swift-endorsed friendship bracelet, because it's coming to theaters, where cameras will put you a little closer to the superstar, for a lot less money (in a nod to her "1989" album, tickets are $19.89, with upcharges for Imax and Dolby).
The concert film is 168 minutes long, slightly shorter than the concerts themselves, but that could probably be accomplished by cutting out some clapping/howling/cellphone-flashing. It opens Oct. 13 and, just as the "Eras" tour "broke" Ticketmaster, the movie seized up the AMC Theatres app when tickets went on sale. Fortunately, you can get them fairly easily now.
If you saw the live show, you already know what's in store but, if not, Swift's previous appearances on screens large and small provide a few clues:
"Amsterdam": There's not going to be a lot of acting in "Eras," other than the kind that requires Swift to perform a version of her best, peppiest self. But this raucous movie suggests the singer may have the acting goods. Her part is small — and, honestly, the movie is a bust — but she neatly captures the fast-talking, 1930s absurdism that director David O. Russell was going for in her performance as Liz, a young woman whose father has disappeared and who wants some answers.
"Anti-Hero" video: I'm not a fan of this video, which cheapens a smart, provocative song. So I was thrilled to hear that, unlike many of the tunes performed on "Eras," the stage show does not re-create elements of the video. Instead, it's mostly Swift and her band, stripped of "Eras" theatricality. Of all the moments I've seen from the tour, this is the one where she seems most in charge and that makes me most curious about what we'll get when Swift directs a feature film, which was announced by Fox Searchlight last year.
"Bad Blood" video: "Kill Bill" meets James Bond in the video, in which Swift fights against and with a posse of stars such as Selena Gomez, Cindy Crawford and Zendaya. Don't expect them to pop up in the movie but, on tour, Swift performed the No. 1 hit with a posse of fierce, hip-swiveling dancers who stepped into the stars' kicks.
"Cats": Look, no one is blaming Swift for this cinematic debacle, which some movie executive should have catnipped in the bud right after some other exec asked, "Should we still make a movie of that Andrew Lloyd Webber musical nobody cares about anymore?" But Swift, who has always been more of a mover than a dancer, displays balletic grace as Bombalurina, who shows up for a song and inspires a dance party/orgy. That translated to a dance-packed stage show. (Sad irony and maybe the reason Swift committed to this mess in the first place: She is a big-time cat fancier.)
"Evermore" video: The title song from Swift's ninth album suffers from a bombastic video that might be a better fit for a power ballad where Meatloaf rips his own lungs out. The canny singer didn't make the same mistake in the "Eras" tour, where it was just her at a piano, backed by her ginormous head on a video screen. This will be a good opportunity for the movie cameras to get up close for a little face time, in between splashy dance numbers.
"Look What You Made Me Do" video: The Kanye West dis track features a look back at previous incarnations of Swift, underscoring that she has moved on. The "Eras" tour brought back the previous incarnations but found a clever way to broaden the songs' themes. The backup dancers became key characters in the staging of "Look," so let's hope the looks they were serving to audiences at the back of the "Eras" stadiums translate well to close-ups. Something else to watch for: Vulture theorized that the onstage antics, in which Swift pounded on boxes containing previous iterations of herself, offered a clue to which of her albums she intended to rerecord next (Vulture was right; Swift announced her rerecording of "1989" last month).
"We Are Never Getting Back Together" video: Swift loves a costume change. Even a relatively low-frills video like this one includes six outfits, so we know the woman rarely misses an excuse to change into something more bejeweled (depending on how you count, the "Bejeweled" video boasts eight costumes, by the way). There are videos online that depict all of her "Eras" duds. Long story short, expect to see a whole fashion house worth of looks on Ms. Swift in the film.
