Oscar Nominated Film Review: EMILIA PEREZ
To say that the Spanish-language French musical crime film, EMILIA PEREZ is audacious does not do justice to the word AUDACIOUS. It is like saying that a Giant Redwood is a “tree”.
Written and Directed by Jacques Audiard (who was Oscar Nominated for both efforts), EMILIA PEREZ tells the squalid tale of a Mexican crime druglord who decides to transition to a new life as a female - not to escape from his enemies, but to run to the person he/she felt she always has been.
Oh…and did I mention it was a musical?
The Grand Jury Prize winner at Cannes EMILIA PEREZ has a lot going for it starting with the audacity of the premise…and deciding to do it as a musical.
The music works (mostly) and sets the dark, dingy mood of the film and the characters within. However, be warned, there is no DEFYING GRAVITY in this film. The characters remain grounded in reality and the songs are dour and moody with nary a flying monkey in sight.
Zoe Saldana (Gamora in the GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY FILMS) is a well-deserved Oscar nominee for Best Supporting Actress (though I would argue she is the LEAD ACTRESS in this film) as the Lawyer that drug Kingpin Juan “Manitas” Del Monte (Karla Sofia Gascon - more on her later) hires to help with the transition. It is a career best performance by Saldana and she carries the emotional heart and soul of this film on her shoulders and she bears it well. She won the Golden Globe for her efforts here and should be considered a front-runner for the Oscar, she’s that good.
It’s a good thing that Saldana is so strong because all of the rest of the characters (including…or, maybe, ESPECIALLY…the titular EMILIA PEREZ) are thinly written with little to no depth to them so performers like Selena Gomez (playing Manitas’ wife) and Edgar Ramirez (playing Gomez’ lover) look fairly narcissistic as they focus only on themselves and think nothing of anyone else.
And, the same can be said for the title character played by Gascon. Her Manitas/Emilia Perez comes off fairly one-dimensional and all of her actions seem selfish and self-absorbed and, quite frankly, I didn’t care what happens to this character through the course of the film.
And that, ultimately, sinks this film as EMILIA PEREZ is, really, a “two-hander” between Saldana’s character and Garcon’s character and trans-actor Garcon is just not strong enough to bring any emotional range and heft to her scenes and she is dismissed off the screen when a true movie veteran like Saldana gives a career best performance.
Director/Writer Audiard (THE SISTERS BROTHERS) helms this piece with sure-handedness, knowing exactly the type of movie he wanted to bring to the screen and his laser-sharp focus on this fever-dream of a film is aided by an unwavering vision of by filmmaker. He should be applauded - but maybe not rewarded with an Oscar - for his vision.
A darling of the industry - it garnered 13 Oscar nominations - Emilia Perez, is an audacious attempt at doing something different and artsy, but mostly misses the mark (except when Saldana is on the screen).
Letter Grade: B
7 stars (out of 10) and you can take that to the Bank (ofMarquis)
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