U2N3D.

Louder! It really should be a lot louder. Crank the V, bro. I mean, my wife plays "Zoo Station" louder than this, like, at Sunday brunch (called church in our house). That's what I was thinking as I caught the dawn press screening of the new "U2 3D" concert film, which employs "the first digital 3D, multi-camera, real-time production..." Meaning? You wear those funny glasses and feel slightly seasick when you take them off. The 55-minute movie was shot during the band's tour of huge outdoor stadiums in Mexico City, Sao Paulo, Santiago and Buenos Aires. It's self-consciously very 3D-y. The Edge's guitar neck snakes through the screen. When Bono swings his microphone stand, the audience (in the theater) ducks. The fans at the concerts, mostly seen as fleshy arms, undulate like sea polyps, and you're tempted to shout (still in the theater) hey down in front!

But can you too imagine a U2 concert in Mexico City's Azteca Stadium? The sweat, the thunder, the dope, the intensity of 80,000 rockeros just going nuts? In Catherine Owens and Mark Pellington's film, the attention is all on the band, who in U2 style work through their set with the professionalism of iron chefs. But there's no Latin America here (and no backstage, no life offstage), the fans feel strangely like computer sims, and even the band sometimes looks like avatars of themselves. But, hey, it's U2 and they chop and the 3D is different and the band's mix of pop and politics (human rights, coexistence) is global-cool.

Actually, what the film did was make me want to go to another U2 concert.

Editor's note: For more on the Cannes Film Festival, read William Booth's latest Letter From Cannes.

By Bill Booth |  May 18, 2007; 4:26 AM ET
Previous: The Hunt and Pecking Order | Next: Norah Jones Gets Many Kisses