YUNGBLUD’S ARE YOU READY BOY IS RAW, RESTLESS, AND REAL
Are You Ready, Boy is a music documentary that refuses to look away. Shot at the legendary Hansa Studios in Berlin, where U2 once recorded some of their most important songs, and one of Dom Harrison’s favorite bands, it carries the weight of that history while carving out its own raw narrative. Instead of chasing glossy spectacle, the film leans into grit, honesty, and volatility, the very qualities that make Yungblud such a singular artist.
Director Paul Dugdale, known for his work with Elton John and Adele, uses the camera almost like a bandmate, sometimes tracking Harrison’s every move, other times locking down and daring him to fill the frame with nothing but raw performance.
The opening moments make it clear this won’t be a conventional concert film. An elongated steadicam shot unspools with tidal necessity, pulling the viewer into the stage environment, before a super-wide dolly frames Harrison against his sprawling world. Even the relationship between Harrison and his guitar feels intentional, the camera lingering on their push-and-pull as if documenting a romance and a war simultaneously.
Dugdale keeps the film visually restless by layering multiple formats—35mm film, digital video, and bursts of experimental technique. It’s the kind of editing that makes you wonder, how many passes did they shoot to land on this? Yet it never feels excessive. Instead, the shifting textures mirror Yungblud’s unpredictable energy. The kaleidoscopic explosion of “Lovesick Lullaby,” refracted through a disco ball, sends light and sound ricocheting across the frame. At the same time, the Berlin bar-life sequences lean on grimy fisheye shots, grounding Harrison’s contradictions in raw, late-night immediacy.
Performance sequences frequently unfold in unbroken takes. One especially powerful shot holds Harrison pressed against a ceiling during the second song, waiting until the chorus breaks to flood the frame with color. Dugdale bookends this later, proving a masterful eye for symmetry. Silence just before “Zombie” is equally daring, stretching out the tension until the eventual eruption feels almost violent.
Intimate moments off-stage deepen the portrait. A dinner scene over Chinese food with the band and management feels loose and unguarded, while Harrison’s frustration when returning to rehearsal space is captured with raw, unvarnished audio. His refusal to overdub vocals, “I’m not dubbing this, that’s for pop stars. I’m doing this in this room,” epitomizes the film’s ethos of honesty. Even a simple shout of “Come on, man!” lands with rare authenticity. One of the film’s most striking choices comes when Dugdale interviews Yungblud while he’s sprawled out on a bed, collapsing the distance between artist and audience and turning the process itself into a scene, which is another reminder that this isn’t about polish, it’s about presence.
Transformation emerges as a central theme. We see Harrison boxing, shifting habits, and pursuing discipline, yet never abandoning his Berlin nightlife roots. On public transport, U2 flashes on a station stop, underscoring the duality between global iconography and private solitude. These moments highlight the universal struggle: finding yourself, losing yourself, and realizing the love of your life might still be the love of your life.
Musically, Are You Ready Boy doesn’t shy away from tension. Clashes with producer Matt Schwartz over drum sounds showcase how friction drives creation. Some songs, like “Ghost,” even pull the film crew directly into the frame, blurring lines between performer, documentarian, and audience. At times, the music bristles with ZZ Top grit, at others it expands with The Who’s cinematic scale.
The ceiling motif returns in the film’s later sequences, as Harrison holds it up in frame, embodying both the weight of expectation and the release that comes when color, sound, and energy crash back in. Dugdale even plays with bookends; images and sounds folding back onto themselves, reminding viewers that nothing here is accidental.
By the end, Are You Ready, Boy is less a concert film and more a meditation on authenticity, artistry, and contradiction. It resists the polish of mainstream music docs, choosing instead to sit in the mess, the conflict, and the stillness that shape Yungblud’s reality. What emerges isn’t a pop construct, but a restless artist pushing himself, his collaborators, and his audience to the edge.
Dugdale balances spectacle with intimacy: kaleidoscopic lights and tidal camera sweeps crash against long silences, raw dinner-table arguments, and unguarded outbursts. A stray “Come on, man!” or Harrison’s refusal to overdub vocals—“That’s for pop stars. I’m doing this in this room”—becomes just as revealing as any climactic chorus. The film’s power lies in these contrasts. The silences before the eruption, the imperfections left in, the moments where even the ceiling won’t allow a lie. In the end, Are You Ready, Boy isn’t just about Yungblud’s music; it’s about the risk of choosing honesty when performance would be easier.