There is a formula to “the K-pop documentary” that anyone with a lightstick and a photocard in their phone case knows well: Drone footage of concerts and long, fast pans of screaming fans intercut with idols against a white cyclorama, introducing themselves and their position in one to two easy soundbites.
And BTS is far and away the most documented group in K-pop. They have three tour documentaries, four seasons of their travel show, and their own variety show, not to mention their hundreds of hours of YouTube content and behind-the-scenes footage from projects and public appearances.
So where does that put Bao Nguyen, the documentarian and filmmaker Hybe brought on to document BTS’s return to performing after a four-year hiatus? His previous work includes The Greatest Night in Pop, about the night “We Are the World” was recorded, and the ESPN 30 for 30 documentary, Be Water, about Bruce Lee. But unlike those paeans to pop-culture history, BTS: The Return, which debuted on Netflix on Friday, captures a white-hot flash in time.
Last fall, their mandatory military service complete, BTS got to work in Los Angeles creating their first album in a new and unprecedented chapter of a story already pretty unprecedented—and Nguyen was on the ground with them from the start.
I spoke to Nguyen on the morning The Return was released, and after indulging me in a 10-minute game of “BTS as members of USA for Africa” (RM is Quincy Jones, J-Hope is Cyndi Lauper, Suga is Bob Dylan, V is Dianna Ross, Jungkook is Michael Jackson, Jimin is Stevie Wonder, Jin is a Willie Nelson/Kenny Rogers hybrid), we talked about the meta undertaking of documenting the band’s creative process.
Vogue: When did you first get involved in the project?
Bao Nguyen: I went to see one of the SoFi shows in 2022, and it was my first BTS concert. I had tried to go see them at the Rose Bowl, but the pandemic happened. So I went to see them, and it was very emotional. I go to a lot of concerts, and it was definitely the most immersive and loudest concert I had ever been to, in the best way possible. BTS has these long dialogues with their Army, and it was really beautiful to see the connection that they can build in such a big stadium. Just witnessing that connection, that relationship, reminded me a bit of The Odyssey. BTS, the members, are almost like Odysseus about to go off into the military, while Penelope is the Army, longing for that return in many ways.
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