“Stories of Surrender” is spectacular (and somewhat immersive)
This week I got an advance peek at “Bono: Stories of Surrender,” which is out today (it’s a beautiful day) on Apple TV+. It’s a movie version of the U2 frontman’s one-man show based on his book of the same name1. It’s available in a standard TV format, but also as an immersive video on the Vision Pro, which is what I watched.
I’ve been a U2 fan since “The Joshua Tree,” which dropped at exactly the right moment in my high school days, so of course I loved the content. Bono tells a version of his life story, occasionally breaking into short versions of his songs, backed by a mostly-string trio. It’s shot in black and white, but embellished with bright white-and-yellow animated drawings. I thought the presentation was quite effective, enhancing already-excellent live-action stagecraft.
(Chairs on stage represent the members of U2; a pair of armchairs and a table represent a place at the pub favored by Bono’s father. But his father appears in the chair as an animated line drawing. It’s clever and affecting.)
At 85 minutes, “Stories of Surrender” is also the longest immersive video Apple has ever released. To be clear, though, this isn’t 85 minutes of immersive video; it’s 85 minutes of video, with maybe 15 or 20 minutes of it containing immersive stage or concert footage. Several musical numbers are shot in immersive, and they’re great. The switch between immersive footage and a standard widescreen flat image wasn’t too jarring, either—it reminded me of seeing a film with “selected scenes in IMAX”, where the frame size changes, then changes back. It’s noticeable, but didn’t break me out of the experience.
I also really admire the work the filmmakers did in creating immersive versions of a lot of the animated white-and-yellow annotations that are the hallmark of the film. At several points, the annotations spring out of the traditional movie frame, or appear in front of the frame, or even mingle with items in the frame. It felt like a creative solution to the issue of being unable to shoot the entire film in a fully immersive setting, while still offering Vision Pro viewers something more spectacular than the standard version.
I have to admit, I’m still a little frustrated by Apple’s pace here. The company’s mysterious ways make it feel like it’s running to stand still, having not presented an immersive video that offers sustained immersive content at greater length. Nine minutes into “Stories of Surrender,” the credits start rolling—the opening credits. But Apple’s immersive content has so trained me to expect only bite-sized chunks, I legitimately thought for a moment that they were the end credits.
Clearly, producing this stuff is technically difficult, but this film just makes me want to see more. More immersive video, a full immersive concert experience, a full immersive theatrical experience, an immersive sports experience—something that’s even better than the real thing. I have a burning desire for that ultimate, long-form immersive video, and while “Stories of Surrender” is excellent, I still haven’t found what I’m looking for. I hope I don’t have to wait until the end of the world.
- As well as a sort of homecoming, since Bono and other members of U2 have performed live at two different Apple Events. ↩
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