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Tough Madame X<\/strong><\/em> is billed as a \u201cdocumentary film\u201d and a \u201cconcert documentary\u201d, it\u2019s really a concert film \u2013 albeit a highly stylised and beautifully executed one. If you\u2019re expecting backstage footage of Madonna grappling with the knee injury that sometimes interrupted 2019-2020\u2019s Madame X Tour<\/strong><\/em>, you\u2019ll be disappointed. But if you want to see the pop queen reinvent her live show with an even more devil-may-care attitude, it definitely delivers.<\/p>\n That knee injury had already forced Madonna to cancel several shows before Madame X was filmed in Lisbon in January 2020, but she doesn\u2019t appear to be struggling here. Admittedly, it doesn\u2019t feature as many high-octane dance routines as a typical Madonna gig, but this seems by design rather than necessity. The singer was so keen to make her latest theatre tour a more \u201cintimate experience\u201d than previous arena-filling juggernauts that she even banned audience members from using their phones. With 48 performers on the payroll, it\u2019s hardly a stripped back affair, but Madonna is probably as accessible as she can be at this point in her career. During one interlude, she takes a polaroid selfie on stage, then sells it off to the highest bidder.<\/p>\n We also see Madonna<\/strong> interacting with a famous friend who attended one of the Lisbon gigs: comedian Dave Chappelle<\/strong>. Sadly, it\u2019s pretty jarring to watch this longtime LGBTQ ally enjoy a mutual love-in with someone who has just branded himself \u201cteam TERF\u201d in a Netflix special. Still, it\u2019s a brief blip in a film that captures the sensory thrills of the \u2018Madame X\u2019 tour, if not necessarily its intimacy. Because it keeps cutting between footage of Madonna on stage and the tour\u2019s pre-recorded video segments, we can take in her artistic vision, but don\u2019t see the singer herself as closely as we might.<\/p>\n The film begins with a James Baldwin quote Madonna is fond of \u2013 \u201cartists are here to disturb the peace<\/strong>\u201d \u2013 then follows the singer\u2019s eyepatch-wearing Madame X character as she barrels through her own vague but effective version of this. It\u2019s a wilfully provocative mix of politics and pussy jokes as she underlines her feminist credentials by singing Express Yourself<\/strong><\/em> a cappella and pledges her allegiance to numerous marginalised groups on Killers Who Are Partying<\/strong><\/em>, a clunky track from the Madame X<\/strong><\/em> album. Fortunately, she also performs superior \u2018Madame X\u2019 songs like the stylish house bop I Don\u2019t Search I Find<\/strong><\/em> and a more generous smattering of classic hits than she is generally associated with. A heartfelt rendition of Frozen<\/strong><\/em> accompanied by black-and-white footage of Madonna\u2019s daughter Lourdes Leon<\/strong> is a strikingly poignant highlight.<\/p>\n Continue reading on NME.com<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"