By Catherine Fung
Rating: 3.5/5
“Light Up The Sky,” a Netflix documentary released on Oct. 14, 2020, showcases the Korean pop sensation Blackpink’s journey from their debut to the release of their recent album. The documentary follows each member’s unique background and shows how the girls’ cultural differences perfectly synchronize together to form a harmonious balance.
In the documentary, each Blackpink member shares her emotional struggles and the hardships she faced as a trainee in the K-pop industry. Each of the girls also reveals her insecurities, fears, and regrets, making them more human and relatable, providing a welcome contrast to the perfect, polished images that the media upholds for them.
“Light Up The Sky” shows clips of the members’ rigorous training, studio sessions as well as views backstage at their live concerts, making the documentary feel more touching and genuine to the viewer. I also liked how the K-pop industry was not glorified. Although they are now one of the most popular girl groups internationally, Blackpink’s years of preparation were far from easy. The girls talked about their extremely demanding work schedule, the emotional strain the work schedule put on them, and the high competition they faced as trainees.
Fans of the group will relish seeing more of each member’s background and how the girls formed a strong bond. The documentary makes clear that Blackpink are more than just a group of friends– they are a family. Their chemistry with each other both on and off-stage is fantastic; you can visibly sense that nothing is forced. Seeing the members work so hard and express their passion for music will make fans feel inspired to reach for their dreams.
Although the difficulties of the K-pop industry are mentioned, they are merely brushed upon, and I think the director could have done a better job exploring the harshness of the industry. The K-pop industry is extremely competitive and demanding of its trainees, and I wish the documentary had inquired more about the difficulties of being a trainee and idol. Throughout the documentary, the harsh realities of the industry surface at times, showing the exhaustion each member feels after being told they were not good enough, the tears on stage due to their feelings of homesickness, and the pain of missing a huge part of childhood as they gave up five to six years in order to train.
The documentary would have definitely benefited from a longer runtime. 80 minutes was not enough time to properly showcase Blackpink’s journey. It introduces each Blackpink member and her struggles, but I did not gain any new insight from watching this documentary and was disappointed at the end. Each member has a completely different backstory, and because the documentary was quite short, I felt that I did not learn much that was new about the members, nor was I able to understand the group in a deeper sense. I did not learn anything new about each Blackpink members’ hopes, dreams, aspirations and fears. Rather, the documentary grazed on Blackpink’s emotional struggles and insecurities but did not go in depth, which I think fans would have appreciated.
Overall, I think this documentary would be quite interesting to someone who is new to Blackpink and wants a brief introduction to the K-pop industry. However, this documentary might be a bit boring to longtime fans of Blackpink.