I Am: SMTOWN Live World Tour in Madison Square Garden

Combining a concert performance with interwoven documentary footage, I Am presents seven K-pop (Korean pop) acts at Madison Square Garden in 2011 as part of the SMTOWN Live World Tour. Smooth moves, trendy apparel, and breezy harmonies rank high among the bands' priorities, aligning them with the Western variant of manufactured pop outfits from *NSYNC to One Direction, although these singers seem less reliant on Auto-Tune (behind-the-scenes a cappella numbers reveal several strong singers). As influences, the performers mention Madonna, Michael Jackson, and Justin Timberlake. The women of the five-member f(x) and nine-member Girls' Generation perform hip-hop-influenced tracks that combine English and Korean lyrics, while the nine-member Super Junior and two-member TVXQ! offer an acrobatic brand of boy-band pop—the latter entering the stage suspended on wires and hidden harnesses. Other acts, including the solo artists KANGTA and BoA, incorporate metal and techno into their musical mix. Between performances, the entertainers talk about their stage names and personas; since K-pop appears to thrive on artifice, the singers have no problem admitting that they are, at least in some cases, playing roles. Fans will find the audition and rehearsal footage of special interest, since some participants were quite young when they joined the SMTOWN family; Yuri from Girls' Generation, for instance, says that she became a trainee when she was in fifth grade and joined the group six years later, indicating the degree to which SM Entertainment mirrors Hollywood's old-fashioned star-making machinery. Bundling the feature-length title documentary with the full-length concert, extras include backstage footage and a music video. Presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 on DVD and Blu-ray, this is recommended for larger music collections. (K. Fennessy)