Disney+ film review: Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions
Review Overview
Music
8Making of
8David Farnor | On 24, Aug 2021
Director: Taylor Swift
Cast: Taylor Swift, Jack Antonoff, Aaron Dessner
Certificate: 14+
Where to watch Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions online in the UK: Disney+
Last year saw Taylor Swift stride confidently into living rooms with the release of Miss Americana on Netflix, but it was later in the year that a real surprise came, as she invited audiences into what felt like her own living room, with the unexpected debut of Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions on Disney+.
The film sees Swift perform her album folklore, which was recorded during the coronavirus pandemic. Filmed at New York’s Long Pond Studios, the performances feature Swift with collaborator Jack Antonoff and The National’s Aaron Dessner, and cuts between them in action and them talking about the making of the album. The result is a mesmerising, immersive dive into each track, as the trio discuss and dissect their origins.
It’s a notable occasion for them, having posted the files for the album back and forth between them remotely – Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon even turns up to join in Exile. It’s also a notable chance for Swift to focus on the music rather than the drama that media often focuses on off-stage – and that intimate, narrow focus more than pays off, with considered commentary on the tiniest decisions that went into the compositions, highlighting not only Swift’s skill as a songwriter but the talents of her musical partners too. And the reward for each of these insightful exchanges is seeing them doing their thing on camera, something that comes with an added poignant and moving edge, partly on tracks such as Peace and Exile.
Swift also makes her feature directorial debut here, and she does so with understated craft, filming the sessions on a robotic camera. It circles the group, reinforcing the closed-off, introspective feel of the chamber, before Swift cuts to overhead shots of the piano keys or close-ups of guitars being strummed and vocals being sung. The result is a carefully assembled mixtape, a musical showcase and candid confessional that manages to be more than just a making-of documentary to promote an album. It’s a captivating, insightful piece that rings with personal resonance.
Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions is available on Disney+ UK, as part of a £7.99 monthly subscription or a £79.99 yearly subscription.
