KATY PERRY: PART OF ME (Dan Cutforth, Jane Lipsitz, 2012)

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KATY PERRY: PART OF ME works better if you're a Katy Perry fan, or at least appreciates her brand of music. The concert film/biopic is presented by the same duo who produced Justin Bieber's NEVER SAY NEVER, and the reason I didn't see that one is that simply I was not a fan of Bieber's work (yet I may have been also infected by "Baby" at one point in time), though with PART OF ME, it is hard not to love the bubbly musician whose songs are undeniably infectious.

PART OF ME centers on Perry's CALIFORNIA DREAMS Tour in 2011, her biggest tour yet that has her traveling from city to city, delivering two-hour shows a night- and we see her struggling against the physical rigors of the concert tour and finding personal time with her then-husband Russell Brand in between shows. An avid fan would have been singing along with the songs, and while the musical numbers are energetic, what is missing in the movie is the social expectations about Katy Perry the celebrity. Instead the producers emphasized on Katy and her relationship with her fans.

The fans actually is the film's strongest element, giving a human side to Katy Perry the celebrity. The montage of various people telling how Katy Perry affected their lives proves effective in cementing Katy's relevance in pop culture.

The film closes with the controversial breakup between Katy Perry and Russell Brand, and while my personal preference would have that it only be hinted at, the filmmakers went ahead and delivered the news like a shocking headline, without letting Brand to at least explain his side of the story. For me (and I am not a die hard fan), I did not need to be handed the controversial breakup straight in my face, because I could already understand what's going on via visual cues (Katy crying minuted before her concert). 

Everytime an issue or a part of Katy's life is brought forward (her Christian upbringing, for one), we get a little information and then the film cuts into another topic. I enjoyed the film nonetheless despite its flawed narrative, because the subject herself is compelling to begin with.

RATING: 3/5    


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