gsygsy
Joined Feb 2000
Welcome to the new profile
We're still working on updating some profile features. To see the badges, ratings breakdowns, and polls for this profile, please go to the previous version.
Reviews302
gsygsy's rating
Enjoyable enough movie with two demanding leading roles and two supporting roles requiring excellent performers. The first two are played by Zoe Saldaña and Karla Sofia Gascón, the second two by Selena Gomez and Adriana Paz. This quartet shared the Best Actress award at Cannes 2024. They deserved it. Saldaña in particular is a revelation.
Of writer-director Jacques Audiard's previous films, I've seen four (The Beat that My Heart Skipped, A Prophet, Rust and Bone, and The Sisters Brothers), each memorable in their different ways. None of them prepared me for this one, so hats of to him for not getting stuck in a genre rut.
There's a lot of story and a lot of singing in Emilia Pérez. When the singing is paired with Damien Jalet's incisive choreography, the effect is thrilling. Otherwise, the songs drag the movie down. They are musical-theatre lite, don't dig deep, so are not up to the dramatic demands put upon them. They're at their best in the rap-inclined numbers, where rhythm is the most important element.
The moral of Emilia Pérez seems to be that we can never slough off the past, change who we are or what we want. It's a strangely bleak vision to present in a musical.
Of writer-director Jacques Audiard's previous films, I've seen four (The Beat that My Heart Skipped, A Prophet, Rust and Bone, and The Sisters Brothers), each memorable in their different ways. None of them prepared me for this one, so hats of to him for not getting stuck in a genre rut.
There's a lot of story and a lot of singing in Emilia Pérez. When the singing is paired with Damien Jalet's incisive choreography, the effect is thrilling. Otherwise, the songs drag the movie down. They are musical-theatre lite, don't dig deep, so are not up to the dramatic demands put upon them. They're at their best in the rap-inclined numbers, where rhythm is the most important element.
The moral of Emilia Pérez seems to be that we can never slough off the past, change who we are or what we want. It's a strangely bleak vision to present in a musical.
A blast of a movie! I sat there lapping it up and was sorry when it was over. Similarities to TRAINSPOTTING are easy to overstate. KNEECAP is much more grounded, perhaps because it has its feet in day-to-day political reality.
It's the story of the eponymous Northern Irish band, which emerged from the contradictions of post-Troubles policies. The band members play themselves, so there's a documentary element, but it feels more like a crazy warts-and-all biopic. This mix of genres seems to me entirely original, giving KNEECAP a unique, stylish energy.
The film grabs you by the scruff of the neck and doesn't let you go. The performances, the music, the editing, the cinematography are all of a piece.
Highly recommended, especially if you're easily offended.
It's the story of the eponymous Northern Irish band, which emerged from the contradictions of post-Troubles policies. The band members play themselves, so there's a documentary element, but it feels more like a crazy warts-and-all biopic. This mix of genres seems to me entirely original, giving KNEECAP a unique, stylish energy.
The film grabs you by the scruff of the neck and doesn't let you go. The performances, the music, the editing, the cinematography are all of a piece.
Highly recommended, especially if you're easily offended.