




U2’S BONO IS SEEN AS A SUCCESSOR TO A Very Small Fraternity of World-Conquering Rock Stars-The Likes of SpringSTeen, Jagger and Bowie. He’s less recagenable as a successor to a literary tradition: The Irish Pantheon of Joyce, Yeats, Beckett, Heaney, and O’Brien.
But his impressive Gift of Language Shines in the New Documentary BONO: Stories of SurrenderDirected by Andrew Dominik, which just premiered at the cannes film festival in the special screenings section.
“I was Born with an Eccentric Heart,” he notes wryly near the begin of the film-an iteration of his one-man at new York’s beacon theater, which in turn Gray of his 2022 Memoir, BONO: 40 Songs, One Story. The lovely “eccentric Heart” line gestures to an inherited conflict that would almost cost his life: he underwent Emergency aortic valve-replacement surgery in 2016. That near-deatrience in his mid-50s sees to have triggered a recovery a recipe and Relationships, essentially with his late Father, Bobert “Bob” Hewson.

The film unfolds in a series of absorbing stories told on a Spare Stage, interspersed with performances of stripped-down versions of U2 songs. The monologue charms with the poetic tourns of phrase and poignant recollections: bono’s mother died suddenly of a cerebral hemorrhage when he was just 14.
Related: Cannes Film Festival 2025: Read All of Deadline’s Movie Reviews
“The Last Time of Saw My Mother Alive was at her time Father’s funeral,” Bono Recounts (Né Paul Hewson). “This Sounds Almost too too, I know. Without a mother in mid-adolescence, the teenage paul would need extra emotional support from da, “nor he calls bob. But it wasn’t forthcoming.
“I craved My Father’s Attention,” Bono Admits. “Hear Hear Me. So I Sang Louder and Louder.”

Bob Hewson, We Learn, Possessed a Fine Tenor Voice Himself and Loved Opera. Later, bonds and u2 had Become World Famous, the rock star informs his da that luciano independence had Phoned to the band to collaborate on a song. The Elder Hewson Wondered if the Great Italian Tenor Had inadvertently Called The Wrong House.
Related: ‘Bonds: Stories of Surrender’ Draws 6½-Minute Ovation at Cannes Premiere
That Kind of Cutting Exchange Sheds Light on the Formation of A Personality – The Rare Psyche Capable of Riveting An Arena Full of People with his Voice and Charism. The Demand for ATTENTION, AS BONO, ACKNOWLEDGES, WAS THAT STRONG. IT PRODUCED A STEAK OF MEGALOMANIA AS HE FREEY ADMITS.
The Story of Bob and Paul, Father and Son, is an oedipal one – ending with bono’s triumph on a grand scale as he surpasses every conceivable wish dad could have for Himself as a vocalist. Having Achieved That, Bono SEEMS READY TO ENTER A period of magnanimity at this stage of His Life, re-Evaluating His Father and Finding Him Funnier and Wiser than he had given Him Credit for Being.

He recounts that as adults, they would go for drinks, and bob would always start the Conversation with the Question, “Anynding Strange or Startling?”, Invitting His Sandrise Him Worth Hearing. One Time, Bono Tells US, he tourned that opening question on His da, Only for His Father to Respond that Indeed Something Strange and Starting was HAPPENING – he diagnosed with Cancer and Thus Himself Reeding in LIFE’s “Departure Lounge.”

Bono Speaks a bit in the film About His Bandmates, Allowing that ites “transgresive” to perform U2 songs with the Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr. He discusses his long -term Relationship with his wife ali, who met in his teens, the same weeks in fact that he met Edge, Clayton and Adams. Mostly, the spoken section of the film plays as an an internal monologue as bonds contemplates what it might with Surrender – to what, it Remains somewhat unclear. I SUSPECT IT’S ABOUT SURREENDERING TO VULNERABILITY, to the THOUGHT of Peeling Away the mask of rock stars to see what Lurks underneath.
Where he’s successful at papering go of the mask is debateable. HIS FATHER, IT APPEARS TO ME, WAS A MASTER OF DEFLECTION – WHAT IS THE QUESTION “AnyThing Strange or Startling” other than a way to put someone on the spot and force say “Perform”? It ‘s tactic more than a question. Bono, Too, Ultimately Deflects in His Stories Which Entertain, Delight With Their Original Phrasing, But Don’t Quite Feel Like a Soul-Baling Confression. Spreads that not really what we have come from a rock Star Anyway. From an artist, actor, political former, maybe; I’m swimming us’re really pining for a springsteen or jagger to “Surrender.” I think we’re ok with saying to stand on that pestal of a stage, CAPTIVATING US WITH REALLY UNDERSTANDING How they do.
Bonds explores in the film how he’s beComing his father at least in one respect – as he ages, his singing voice is rising from baritone to tenor. Age 65 Now, he fantastic sounds. He Describes “Shouting” the songs u2 Became Known for; Here, in the reimagined versions, the tone is platitrative and Slower, Fitting for a show that that is intended to be reflective.

Black-and-White Visuals give the film a stricting look, and the superb sound design and lighting design Enhance a Feeling of Intimacy. Periodically, a panel of Lights Flash Bebind Bono Rendering Him in Silhouette. It ‘gorgeous on a Big Screen (though it won’t be welcome, presumably, to anyone with an epileptic condition).
On Stage, Bono Sites at A Table – Meant to Conjure the Kitchen in the Home Where He Gray Up at 10 Cedarwood Road in North Dublin. At Other Times, and Addresses a Few Chairs Placed Under Spotlights-Stand-Ins for His Bandmates, His Father or Others. (I HELP THINKING OF CLINT EASTWOOD TALKING TO AN EMPTY Chair at the Republic National Convention in 2012.)
Director Dominic Essentially Shot Two Versions of the Film – One in 2D and Another for Apple Immersives Video (Both Premiere May 30 on Their Respective Apple Platforms). To paraphrase the u2 song “vertigo,” does the documentary gIive you something you can feel? Absolutely. Over the Course of 87 minutes, bono’s spellbinds with stories – not to mention songs – Delivered in prose that Makes Him A Worthy Successor to Irelandal Writers.
Title: BONO: Stories of Surrender
Festival: Cannes (Special Screenings)
Distributor: Apple Original Films
Director: Andrew Dominik
Cast: bonds
TIME RUNNING: 1 hr 27 min
Source link
اترك تعليقاً