Review: Katy Perry: Part of Me

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Katy Perry is the reigning princess of popular music. In a short timeframe, Ms. Perry has created 7 #1 chart topping hits, sold millions of albums and embarked on a successful world tour. The latest creation from Castle Perry is Katy Perry: Part of Me, a documentary highlighting the ups and downs of Katy Perry’s life, as she embarks on 2011's Teenage Dream tour. 

When viewing the trailer for Katy Perry: Part of Me one cannot help think, "Oh great, another bubblegum princess trying to sell more albums." But this movie is no such thing. It's the real deal and shines a balanced light on the life, love and career of a shooting star. 

Katy Perry: Part of Me starts with self-shot testimonials from Perry fans talking about the empowering and inspirational messages they receive from her. The last testimonial is the musician herself at age 18 talking about the responsibility of being a pop star. This is five years before her breakout album One of the Boys.

Through this documentary we learn that her statement as an 18-year-old was prescient. Throughout the film we see Perry meet with fans backstage. These types of scenes can be contrived but in her case, we can see she is a genuine person. This does not get cemented until late in the film. There is a scene toward the end where you really understand her relationship with the fans.

Soon after the opening testimonials, we learn turn to the backstage preparation for Katy Perry’s tour. This is where we see that Katy Perry: Part of Me is going to be a real documentary and not a shellacked piece of fluff.  How can we tell? In the first minutes of the documentary we see Katy Perry with no makeup on. Yes ... no makeup. We live in a Photoshopped world where film and music stars protect every aspect of their image, some would not be caught dead outside their compounds sans makeup. Not Perry, she lets the cameras capture her in every state of being, from her wakeup call to wearing hairnets to finally taking stage as the high sheen pop star we all know. This documentary is the real deal and Katy Perry is responsible. 

The movie quickly moves onto documenting the machine that is a large-scale worldwide tour. Seven tour buses, 16 trucks full of gear and numerous seamstresses, makeup artists, clothing designers and assistants of every flavor. This is a huge operation and Perry is the ringmaster. As the tour launches, we catch a glimpse of her husband Russell Brand, who is present at the launch of her tour and in her life throughout the film.

Katy Perry: Part of Me does an amicable job of illustrating Perry’s career, detailing her ups and downs as a fledgling popular music performer. Perry started out as a gospel singer (her parents are traveling ministers) who soon moved to Los Angeles to make her way as a pop star. After a short and unproductive stint at Columbia Records, she made her way to Capitol Records where her career caught fire. With the catchy tune "I Kissed a Girl," the 2008 album One of the Boys lit up the charts, and her career took off. The takeaway from her history is that her career was not just a flash in the pan, but a lifetime of hard work.

By far the most interesting aspect of this film is Perry’s relationship with Brand. We learn of the multi-day breaks that are built into the tour so she can fly to see him wherever he is in the world. Multiple times, she travels from Europe to LA or New Orleans to spend "relationship time" with her betrothed. To her it is stressful but worth it. Perry places a lot of value on family and it shows by her actions. The sad part of this aspect of the movie is that we already know how that story turns out. Their relationship falls apart near the end of the tour. This is where Perry and her crew stay true. The collapse of the relationship is shown and you cannot help but feel for Perry. 

Documentarians live an interesting life. Once in a while they catch lightning in a bottle. Katy Perry: Part of Me is just that type of film. What starts out as just a normal run-of-the-mill concert video morphs into something much different. Katy Perry: Part of Me is not all bubblegum, sugar and unicorns, but takes a serious and unvarnished look at the reality of one of the world's most famous pop stars.