Bono: Movie Star And SuperModel—By PJ and Kelly
Bono at the New Yorker Festival, watercolor by Kelly Eddington, 2022. Based on a photo by the amazing Beth Nabi and manipulated with PhotoMosh.
Bono: Movie Star by PJ DeGenaro and Bono: Supermodel by Kelly Eddington
Bono: Movie Star
I took Friday afternoon off to watch Bono’s wee film. My boss doesn’t know this, so don’t say anything. (Thanks.) The only intrusion came from my dog, Jojo, who kept running back and forth between the front door and the family-room windows, making tragic little peep-peep-peep noises. Her favorite thing is to be off-leash, in a safe, fenced yard, running in circles with other dogs. And she had spotted her neighborhood fave — a gorgeous husky mix, male, all black, with blue eyes — across the way. But we had just come back in from an epic walk, and I had a movie to watch.
Still, I empathize with Jojo. How nice it would be, really, to be off-leash, in a safe, fenced yard, running in circles with Bono. Peep-peep-peep.
If you want to see me at my most ridiculous, try to pause Stories of Surrender at the moment “I Will Follow” cranks up and Bono throws it to the crowd. I appear briefly on either side of his outstretched hand, one of the shortest people in the room, with a child-sized head on which the face is doing its absolute most. Cameras hate me.
Anyway. I saw Bono’s stage show twice, and I was blessed to be a friend’s plus-one at the live recording. I kept that under my hat for quite a while, which killed me, because it was probably one of the best days of my life as a U2 fan. We were all crammed into the orchestra section of the Beacon Theater for hours, as Bono and his exquisite band — producer/programmer/percussionist Jacknife Lee, cellist Kate Ellis and harpist Gemma Doherty — did multiple takes. Between takes, and sometimes during them, Bono went off-script to joke with the crowd. It was just remarkably intimate. Imagine taking a class with the coolest teacher on earth. So much laughter, and so much singing! As it was May 9, we sang “Happy birthday” to him. He was moved. In fact, I’m not even gonna try to write anything eloquent here. Bono was fucking happy. Totally in his element, engaging with a tiny (by his usual standards) crowd. All of us together making a joyful noise.
No question that the resulting film is beautiful. I don’t think I can spoil it for anyone, because if you’re reading this, you’ve probably read the buke what Bono wrote himself, or listened to his audiobuke what he read himself, or have acquired the abridged paperback version. You can probably recite the noteworthy moments of Bono’s life in your sleep. If you love U2 and you love Bono, you will love this film, and you will marvel once again at this wee man whose talent seems to have no limitations. His voice has never been better, which is saying something. And you already know that the crux of the film is his between-worlds reconciliation with his father.
So I’ll just lodge a few brief complaints:
I think Bono and director Andrew Dominik were wise to pare the show down to its most significant themes for the film, but that paring down, combined with its being shot in black-and-white, creates a somberness that just wasn’t there for the live shows.
One charming element missing from the film is Bono being his own stage crew — moving nimbly across the stage, rearranging the table and chairs to set the scene and put the other “characters” in place. This could have buried the “Bono is a klutz” myth for good.
I am saddened, honestly and deeply, that Bono’s performance of “Iris” didn’t make the cut. We, the audience at the taping, were urged to sing. And we sang “hold me close, hold me close and don’t let me go, hold me close, like I’m someone that you might know” multiple times. We sang it to Bono. Right to him. And we would have done it as often as needed.
What doesn’t come across in the film, because I don’t suppose it can, is Bono’s mysterious way of making you feel he’s looking right at you, and seeing into your heart, even if you’re in the cheap seats. (Does the Apple Vision Pro give you a facsimile of this feeling? Let us know!)
One last thing, and I shall not mince words: It was a colossal fuckup to not keep the camera on Bono for the entirety of his performance of “Torna a Surriento.” Dominik could have done this, and still showed the beautiful inside and outside shots of the Teatro di San Carlo. Because the return to Sorrento is the whole fucking point of the show. And because no rock’n’roll frontman is required to be able to sing a 120-year-old Italian song like a fucking angel. But my God, Bono can do fucking anything.
(Thanks to Hiding In The Burgh for sharing her thoughts and helping to clarify mine!)
Bono: Supermodel
PJ is the undisputed expert when it comes to Bono’s Stories of Surrender book/tour/movie. SHE IS ACTUALLY IN IT!
I didn’t get to go, and I haven’t seen the movie yet, although after watching Bono promote it over the past couple of weeks, it feels like I already have. So I’ve decided to address the gift that appeared without warning on our social media last week. I am talking about, of course, the new Anton Corbijn photos of Bono in the June issue of Esquire. If your U2 group chat (you have one, don’t you?) is anything like ours, all of you began smashing your keyboards the second you saw them. Let’s go over these photos like we’re thirteen year-olds!
All images by Anton Corbijn except for the ones that are obviously NOT his. My goal was to transform this content into something new and hopefully mildly amusing to our readers by adding other visual elements and text, which constitutes fair use. Achtoonbaby is a niche feminist U2 fansite that makes no money!
Having said that:
Want to support…whatever this is? Please share this with the U2 people you know. I would love it if you’d join me on Patreon for $1 a month, where you’ll get to see all of my U2 art weeks and sometimes months before anyone else, or just buy me a Ko-fi. I’ll split it with PJ! THANK YOUUUU!—Kelly