Distilled from some 250 hours of footage shot during her 1990 Blond Ambition world tour - world as in USA, Canada, Europe and Japan - Madonna: Truth or Dare is a fascinating glimpse into what ostensibly passes as the private, off-stage, between-shows world of a bona-fide superstar. Directed by 26 year-old video-clip maker Alek Kershishian, the film follows Madonna on a dizzying journey through the cities, streets, buses, hotels and backstage dressing rooms that play host to her and her accompanying entourage of back-up singers, dancers, musicians and sychofantic hangers-on. It's a carefully calculated, shrewdly constructed vanity project predicated on a theatrical mantle of provocativeness that all too conveniently plays to the star's well-documented tabloid persona. There are no fly-on-the-wall reveals to speak of but there's ample opportunity for rubbernecking and the crisp black and white off-stage sections coupled with a profusion of spectacular multi-camera color footage of the singer's big-arena performances make for an entertaining, immersive couple of hours.
