SMTOWN The Stage (2015)

Groups Highlighted in this documentary: EXO (10), TVXQ, Super Junior, SHINee, Red Velvet (first SMTown debut as 4), Super Junior-M, Girls Generation, BoA, Kangta, and a mix between them.

If you are interested in any SM Entertainment artist or their Songs, this is the documentary for you. What I liked most about this was it actually showcased the behind the scenes look at what makes SM Entertainment click with audiences and how the concert is put together. Mixing the artists experiences and what they like about the company and why the wanted to be apart of the company in the first place.

SM Entertainment's philosophy when it comes to making music, shows, and their trainee system. Looking at it from a neutral prospective, it's an hour and half infomercial getting you to buy their product, but the difference is, they actually deliver on their promises. Interlocking the artist talking about the hard work and dedication they put into their craft, while working with people behind the scenes, the respect they have for others in their company, both famous and not is the highlight of this documentary. The in-depth interviews in between the musical performances I believe is reason enough to watch this documentary, if you don't leave, feeling something for the artists involved and with the feeling that every artist in SM deserves to be on that stage, you weren't paying attention.

It's a unique look at how the company functions mixed in with great performances at shows in multiple different locations around.

The one real drawback for me, was the fact that it was hard to tell if they were singing live at all or not. As someone who does enjoy SM artists, I Know they all mostly sound like they eat CD's for breakfast, so I was sad to see this didn't highlight their live skills as much as it could have. But I understand for the purpose of film why the audio is also put over as well.
A second one is that it focus's a lot on the Male performances for the majority of the documentary which again, I understand they have more male groups than female, but I wished, it gave a little more attention spread out. The first half was Male (minus red velvet's song) and the Second was focused on female performances. I think it would have made the documentary a lot better structure if it was more mixed.

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