Sia: Nostalgic for the Present review spotlights her hidden-face power
Variety says Sia’s 75-minute concert film turns her 2016 tour projections into a greatest-hits dance showcase with Maddie Ziegler.
By Georgia Hale · Staff Writer
3 min read
Sia: Nostalgic for the Present arrives in select theaters as a limited-run performance film built from the singer’s 2016 tour, and Variety’s Owen Gleiberman says its central hook is plain: Sia is everywhere in it, yet her face is never seen.
In a review published July 23, Gleiberman describes the film as a 75-minute concert-performance piece originally created for the Nostalgic for the Present tour. The movie, he writes, is made up largely of dance-video projections that were shown onstage while live performers matched the movement.
The film opens July 24 in select theaters, according to Variety. It is being released by Trafalgar Releasing and comes from a Monkey Puzzle production in association with Radical Media, Collider and Serial Pictures.
What is Sia: Nostalgic for the Present?
Sia: Nostalgic for the Present is a performance film tied to Sia’s 2016 tour, directed by Sia and Daniel Askill. Variety reports that it functions as a greatest-hits-style visual concert, pairing Sia’s songs with choreographed dance videos and stage imagery.
Gleiberman notes that Sia appears on a platform at stage left, singing while covered by her familiar half-blonde, half-black wig. The bangs hang low enough to obscure her face, and she wears a white dress that the review compares to an early-1960s nurse’s uniform, topped by an oversized white bow.
That hidden-face presentation is the review’s main fascination. Gleiberman writes that songs including “Unstoppable,” “Titanium” and “The Greatest” play as anthems of resilience and force, while Sia’s covered identity makes her seem less like a conventional pop star and more like a vessel for the music’s power.
Maddie Ziegler is the film’s dominant dance presence, according to Variety. Gleiberman identifies her as the young performer who appeared in three well-known Sia videos and says she was 14 during the 2016 tour.
The review says Ziegler and the other dancers wear versions of Sia’s two-tone wig. Actors Kristen Wiig, Paul Dano, Ben Mendelsohn and Gaby Hoffman also appear in individual dance-video segments, while the wig motif extends to choreographers, costume staff and offstage crew members shown in the film.
Who made and appears in the film?
Variety lists Sia and Daniel Askill as directors, with Bobby Shore credited for camera work and Lorin Askill as editor. The music is by Sia.
The cast list includes Sia, Maddie Ziegler, Nick Lanzisera, Stephanie Mincone, Wyatt Rocker, Paul Dano, Gaby Hoffman, Ben Mendelsohn, Tig Notaro and Kristen Wiig. Jason Baum is listed as producer, with Sia, Jonathan Daniel, David Russell, Jennifer Heath, Daniel Askill and Sara Greco among the executive producers.
Gleiberman says the movie’s age is impossible to miss, calling it a decade-old promotional film and a greatest-hits collection rather than a burst of new work. Even so, he argues that Sia’s strongest songs hold up, singling out “Chandelier” for praise and describing her voice as commanding across the performance.
The review also places the film within Sia’s larger pop persona: an artist whose concealment became central to her identity. Gleiberman contrasts that approach with Lady Gaga’s early masked era, writing that Sia pushed the hidden-face idea further as her solo career took off in the late 2000s.
Variety’s bottom line is wistful rather than dismissive. Gleiberman says the film makes him wish Sia would create another dance-driven pop statement, and suggests she could mount a comeback without abandoning the wig that helped define this chapter of her career.
This story draws on original reporting from Variety.