\n<\/p>\n
Of all the absurdities in \u201cRenaissance: A Film by Beyonc\u00e9,\u201d the one that takes the cake comes in the homestretch, long after the film\u2019s revealed itself to be both a face-warping concert movie and a moving, unexpectedly transparent feat of self-portraiture, after the screen\u2019s gone black and the speakers silent during her performance of \u201cAlien Superstar\u201d (which happened for about 10 minutes on the tour\u2019s Phoenix stop<\/a>) and the placid voices at \u201cRenaissance\u201d mission control sound concerned, after we\u2019ve beheld one costuming outrage chase another, after we\u2019ve witnessed technicians inform her that something\u2019s impossible and she informs them that she\u2019s looked the problem up and that, indeed, it is possible. (\u201cEventually, they realize this bitch will not give up,\u201d she says, backstage, to the camera.)<\/p>\n After all of that and about two and a half hours more, out comes the most outrageous costume of the evening. The bee. It\u2019s by Thierry Mugler and lands somewhere between bathing suit and \u201cBarbarella<\/a>,\u201d an exoskeleton breastplate in yellow and black, with black thigh-high boots. That\u2019s not what kills me though, not really. It\u2019s the matching helmet and yellow-tinted shades that cover the top half of her face. The helmet\u2019s got horns that taper into antennae, and they swing, at about waist level. She\u2019s put this thing on for her partisans in the Beyhive.<\/p>\n That\u2019s not even the deadliest thing about the costume, which, yes, on its own is a trip. It\u2019s that at some point during this passage, a local TV news desk appears onstage. Its station call letters feature no vowels yet remain unprintable nonetheless. And from behind that desk, this titan of song, movement and facial expression, this mother of three and daughter of Tina and Matthew Knowles, this creature of Houston and global inspiration who has elected officials<\/em> asking themselves<\/a> \u201cWhat would Beyonc\u00e9 do?\u201d \u2014 she<\/em> is dressed like a bug, a bug who stings, in order to do the news, which, in the film, is simply this: \u201cAmerica? America has a problem,\u201d the title of the bottom-bumping Miami bass jam<\/a> that doubles as the wickedest joke on the \u201cRenaissance\u201d album. Here, in a film written, directed, produced by and starring Beyonc\u00e9, it\u2019s camp. Divine camp.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n