A One Mann’s Movies review of “George Michael: The Faith Tour”. (2026, 3.5*, 12A).
I am, of course, listening to the Faith album on Spotify while I’m writing this (and it is an exceptional piece of pop musicianship). For George Michael: The Faith Tour is, in the main, a dynamic recording of the pop star’s concerts in Paris on May 30th/31st 1988 at the peak of his talents.
As I have bored friends to tears with this story, I have had the joy of crossing paths with George Michael at around this time. I sat ‘next to him’* on a British Midland flight back from Nice to Heathrow. (*I say “next to him”: he had seats 1A, B and C and I was sat in seat 1D.) On doing some Googling I see that he spent time in Nice during a break from this Faith tour in August 1988, so I’m thinking this was probably him coming back from that holiday. Anyhoo, I was the first off the plane with him at Heathrow and our bags were already on the carousel. We grabbed them and I was walking towards the sliding doors to land-side with him a few yards behind me. In a moment (of what I claim to be comic genius), I turned around to him and said “I hope to God all those girls aren’t out her waiting for me again” and he laughed. Of course, this is ten years before he came out as gay. So, he was probably checking my ass out! 😉
One Mann’s Movies Rating:
This is a very personal rating, since your view of the film will be so highly dependant on your degree of love for Michael. This might well be a 5* experience for you if you are a fan. I was a bit of a drag-along for this, but enjoyed myself. Although some of the lesser songs dragged a bit for me.
Plot:
A filming of selected songs from the Paris concerts. This is preceded by a short documentary feature from Mary McCartney called Finding Faith.
Certification:
UK: 12A; US: NR. (From the BBFC website: “moderate sex references.” This feels almost like it should be a PG, since all of the “moderate sex references” (other than some mild onstage thrusting) are in the song lyrics. You would probably throw a George Michael playlist on at home with the kids around without thinking about it. I noted that there was one “fuck” in the pre-show documentary Finding Faith: either the BBFC’s censor must have slept through that (describing the language as “very mild …. includes use of ‘hell'”!) or else the short got added after the BBFC reviewed it (which would have been a bit naughty).)
Talent:
Starring: George Michael.
Directed by: David Austin, Andrew Morahan. (Austin put this restoration film together; Morahan directed the original concert footage. Mary McCartney directs the pre-film short Finding Faith.)
Running Time: 1h 53m.
George Michael: The Faith Tour – Review:
Positives:
- George Michael on stage is just ‘Wow’. What style. What a voice. What charisma. What showmanship. As the Illustrious Mrs Movie Mann and I said independently, “he’s the complete package”. It is a privilege to get to see him perform at the peak of his powers, before his sad decline started 4 years later: a legal dispute with Sony, his drug addictions and his later reclusiveness and early death (on Christmas Day 2016). He was such an impressive performer and remains a sad loss. (Having brought myself down a bit with that sentence, I just cheered myself up again watching him take the piss out of himself with his part in one of the funniest ever Comic Relief videos from 2011!)
- This was a time in major concerts before massive pyro, video and laser effects. Although there is a clever “cage” effect to open and close the show, centre-stage was George Michael and his vocal and dance talents. I’m assuming that the production did nothing nefarious with the sound, but the guy is just pitch-perfect. I’ve been to lots of concerts where the performer sounded lacklustre compared to his or her recordings: and they would often hang back from the high notes to protect their voice. There was none of this with George Michael. His voice sounded record-quality and he went for everything. A telling point is that the slow song over the end credits I thought to be a studio recording until in the background I heard a ripple of applause and you realise, this was live too.
- The short before the film – Finding Faith by Mary McCartney – is neatly put together: basically snippets of an interview with George against pictures of the star. It introduces the background to some of the songs you will hear later.
Negatives:
- It was a curious choice of either the concert or the film editing to start and end the concert with “I Want Your Sex”. OK, I thought, I’ve heard this once… I don’t want to hear it again.
- Perhaps this is just me, but whenever I see a concert crowd in films like this, my brain always manages to filter to the person amongst the few hundred on screen who isn’t enjoying themselves. There are a few shots like that in this film: one where George encourages everyone to sing, then a cut to a shot with a guy being stubbornly silent and another where a guy looks as miserable as sin. I guess the camera is just reflecting reality, but with so much footage to choose from, perhaps a tighter edit might have missed these and kept the mood ‘up’.
- The sound levels were a little bit odd in places. The volume of Finding Faith was quite low and I thought “oh, have the Everyman cinema maybe got the levels wrong”; then the start of the concert began with a filling-rattling bass at a huge volume and I thought “oh God, is this going to be too loud for me”, but then most of the rest of the concert was about right.
Summary Thoughts:
A great concert experience that showcases the musical and performance talents of one of the greats. Fans will absolutely love this one.
Where to watch?
George Michael: The Faith Tour – Trailer
The trailer for the film is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3JOyA5NY8I.
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