Wicked

WICKED

2024 | Dir. Jon M. Chu | 162 Minutes

"Everyone deserves the chance to fly."

In the Land of Oz, by chance the outcast Elphaba Thropp finds herself enrolled in Shiz University. Following their contentious first meeting, vain popular girl Galinda Upland gains a measure of compassion and gradually befriends Elphaba. When destiny calls, Elphaba learns hard truths about her world and must decide between fulfilling the expectations of others or doing what she believes is right.

Adapted from the first act of Stephen Schwartz's celebrated Broadway production, which in turn is based on Gregory Maguire's 1995 novel reinterpreting L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, director Jon M. Chu delivers a visually dazzling showcase of song and dance with spectacular choreography and fun set pieces. Primarily serving as a revisionist origin story for a classic villain, Wicked is at its best when it focuses on its core relationship, the unlikely but genuine friendship between misunderstood Elphaba, who learns to embrace her agency, and the conceited Galinda, who learns humility and empathy. The narrative also has much to say regarding prejudice, discrimination, and disinformation, with a considerable amount of focus on the mistreatment of not just Elphaba but also the intelligent animal inhabitants of Oz. However, the pacing of the film suffers from an overabundance of exposition and lore to unpack. While the picture concludes on a triumphant high, with so many plot threads left unresolved it isn't quite satisfying as stand-alone feature when all is sung and done.

The songs by Stephen Schwartz are all-around phenomenal, many of which are immediately unforgettable, and they are performed by an immensely talented cast with superb cinematic direction for this film adaptation. The "Dancing Through Life" sequence is the perfect example of the picture's incredible scale, taking place in a massive dynamic magical library set populated with excellent dancers. On a smaller, more personal scale, the "Popular" number is a great spotlight for the picture's leading ladies, perfectly matching the clever and funny energy of the catchy song. The epic sequence capping off the film featuring the exceptionally memorable "Defying Gravity" is truly exhilarating, a fittingly moving and inspirational showstopper accentuated with impressive visual effects.

Cynthia Erivo is magnificent as Elphaba, a role that fully utilizes her incredible voice, but even more impressively, allows her to demonstrate her screen acting talent as she capably carries the emotional weight of Elphaba's story. Frequently hilarious and believably earnest, Ariana Grande embodies Galinda to perfection. Playing the part of Fiyero, Jonathan Bailey is suitably charming and convincingly magnetic. The supporting cast also features an Michelle Yeoh exuding an air of authority as the deceptively regal Shiz University headmistress Madame Morrible, and Jeff Goldblum more or less just being Jeff Goldblum in the role of the master con artist Oz.

A crowd-pleasing ride overall, Wicked is an entertaining and emotionally engaging movie musical featuring iconic visuals and memorable songs. Elevated by a universally appealing tale of self-discovery at its heart, the narrative also offers a timely and timeless cautionary look at the evils of scapegoating and propaganda. Unfortunately, the film falls short of perfection in no small part due to its extended runtime bloated with expository material that does not pay off in this first installment of an ambitious duology.

FRAGMENTS

- The ad campaign for the film strategically neglects to mention it is the first installment of a two-picture adaptation, though the actual title card featured in the opening reads: Wicked ~Part 1~

- Peter Dinklage playing Dr. Dillamond further demonstrates his frequent typecasting as persecuted intellectuals

- The way John Powell's score builds as Elphaba takes flight during the finale reminds me so much of Hans Zimmer's theme for Superman from Man of Steel

007 CONNECTIONS

- Michelle Yeoh (Wai Lin in Tomorrow Never Dies)

MCU CONNECTIONS

- Jeff Goldblum (Grandmaster in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and Thor: Ragnarok)

- Michelle Yeoh (Aleta Ogord in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and Jiang Nan in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings)

- Peter Dinklage (Eitri in Avengers: Infinity War)

The Substance

THE SUBSTANCE

2024 | Dir. Coralie Fargeat | 141 Minutes

"Remember you are one."

Unceremoniously let go by the producer of her television show, aging celebrity Elisabeth Sparkle uses a mysterious drug to create a younger version of herself to begin her career anew. However, the youthful copy callously saps away at Elisabeth at an alarming rate.

Writer/director Coralie Fargeat's The Substance is an instant horror classic. The film is a stylish, surreal, provocative, and intensely furious satire unfolding in an aggressively heightened world taking one woman's feelings of inadequacy, in large part imparted upon her by unrealistic societal beauty standards, to birth a superficially enticing self-destructive monster. When one considers the very last instruction card enclosed within the package of the titular substance printed in bold capitalized letters, a reminder to the user that they and their counterpart "are one," the most direct reading of the increasingly antagonistic push-and-pull relationship between Elisabeth and Sue is Elisabeth expressing the hate she has for herself, an internal conflict that's externalized and transmuted into a visceral interpersonal struggle. Sue stealing time away from Elisabeth is in reality Elisabeth refusing to accept the current natural state of her aging body and a life away from the spotlight. It's telling that despite her reactive desperation to put an end to Sue when her body deteriorates to an unrecognizable state, Elisabeth is ultimately unable to let go of the Sue aspect of herself.

The hilariously sharp dialogue and frantically rapid pace of The Substance, along with outlandish creature effects of its final act, take the already excellent dramatic conflict over-the-top. On a technical level, the picture is absolutely phenomenal. The masterful editing by Fargeat, Jérôme Eltabet, Valentin Feron combined with the pulsating electronic score by Raffertie create a tense and breathless audio visual experience with propulsive energy. The practical make-up effects by Pop FX are brilliantly inventive, culminating in the bloody finale with one of the most convincingly rendered fascinatingly disgusting movie monsters in cinema history.

Stars Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley are nothing short of perfect, particularly impressive as the narrative spirals into absolute chaotic and revolting weirdness. Alone without a single word of spoken dialogue in some scenes, Moore gives an exceptionally natural performance portraying a fading star refusing to give up her fame at any cost, remaining consistently engaging even as heavier and heavier prosthetics are applied to her as Elisabeth's body rapidly degenerates. Qualley also gives it her all in the physically demanding role of Sue, totally captivating whether she's mugging for the cameras or literally fighting for her borrowed life. Dennis Quaid is horrifyingly convincing as the blustering slimy television producer all-too-aptly named Harvey.

Incredibly daring and delightfully grotesque, The Substance is a cautionary tale body horror film with unforgettable inventively disgusting imagery. The picture stylishly and mercilessly confronts and subverts the absurdly high value society places on youth and surface-level beauty. Most provocatively, the most terrifying aspect of this feature is arguably its depiction of one woman's self-loathing mutating into full-blown self-destruction.

FRAGMENTS

- The brief introductory sequence elegantly showing without verbal explanation how the titular substance works on an egg is pure genius, as are the bookend sequences of Elisabeth's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

- The moment the "Monstro Elisasue" title card appears is one of my favorite cinematic experiences of 2024

Nickel Boys

NICKEL BOYS
2025 | Dir. RaMell Ross | 140 Minutes

"In here and out there are the same, but in here no one has to act fake anymore."

In 1962, black teenager Elwood Curtis is wrongfully arrested in Florida as an accomplice to a criminal. Imprisoned at the Nickel Academy reform school, Elwood quickly befriends the pessimistic Turner while both boys witness and endure horrible abuse. Years later, an adult Elwood confronts his past as authorities discover unmarked graves at site of the defunct campus.

Director RaMell Ross' adaptation of Colson Whitehead's Pulitzer-winning novel is visually captivating, frequently distressing, and even occasionally suffocating, however appropriate. Filmed primarily from a first-person perspective without ever coming off like a cheap gimmick, Nickel Boys fully immerses its audience in the journey of its pair of main characters, from moments of peaceful serene stillness to intense sequences of pure anxiety. As horrific events gradually unfold at the reform school, the dramatic tension never feels manufactured and never truly lets up. Even as the narrative segues away from Elwood's time Nickel, these flash forward scenes exclusively address the left over trauma.

The work of cinematographer Jomo Fray is exceptionally inspired, both in how it brilliantly captures Elwood and Turner's respective points of views but also in how it conveys deeper meaning whenever the camera shifts out of first-person view. Replaying the moment Elwood meets Turner from Turner's perspective is a clever way to clue the audience in on the fact that the picture will also follow the story of a secondary main character. A dreadful moment when Elwood suffers horrific physical abuse, the perspective shifts to third-person to depict his mental dissociation in a way that's both incredibly artistic and incredibly harrowing. At first viewing, it may be somewhat curious how scenes interspersed through the picture featuring an adult Elwood are exclusively shot from behind his head and shoulders, but it's a particularly profound creative choice in hindsight considering the concluding revelation that the grown man is in actuality Turner, having taken on both Elwood's name and aspects of Elwood's idealistically headstrong perspective.

Leads Ethan Herisse and Brandon Wilson both deliver engaging, incredibly moving performances. As Elwood, Herisse is the ideal audience surrogate, an intelligent young man rallying against the injustices inflicted upon him, while Wilson is rather charming and convincingly cynical as Turner, a child world-weary beyond his years. The cast also features Daveed Diggs who is heartbreaking as the adult Elwood/Turner, Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor embodying love turned to helpless sorrow as Elwood's grandmother Hattie, and a believably detestable Hamish Linklater serving as the face of Nickel Academy's hateful draconian practices.

Nickel Boys is an emotionally devastating experience, one that is equally captivating and challenging. Through outstanding cinematography, the picture drops its audience directly into the perspective of its central characters as they are subjected to one of the most notorious forms of institutionalized oppression that thrived in Jim Crow-era America. The filmmakers present the narrative in a way that, ingeniously only possible through the medium of motion pictures, directly requests empathy from the viewer.

FRAGMENTS

- Just when I was starting to enjoy seeing Hamish Linklater since watching him play the morally conflicted lead on Mike Flanagan's Midnight Mass -- his performance is good in this film, but what an evil, evil character

- I simply do not understand why this film wasn't nominated for the Academy Award for Best Cinematography

Ainda Estou Aqui (I'm Still Here)

AINDA ESTOU AQUI (I'M STILL HERE)

2024 | Dir. Walter Salles | 137 Minutes

"It's absolutely necessary to compensate the families and do the most important thing: clarify and judge all crimes committed during the dictatorship. Otherwise, they will continue to be committed with impunity."

In 1971, operatives of Brazil's military dictatorship take former congressman Rubens Paiva away from his home in Rio de Janeiro. In the aftermath, Rubens' wife Eunice does what she can to protect her children while investigating what happened to her husband.

Adapted from Marcelo Rubens Paiva's memoir of the same name, Walter Salles' I'm Still Here is a moving chronicle of one family's harrowing experiences under authoritarian oppression. The events of the film unfold naturally without obvious dramatic embellishment, presenting an unsettling narrative of a good husband and father abducted by unidentified men never to be seen in public again, a loving mother and her young daughter imprisoned and relentlessly questioned without just cause, a nurturing family doing everything in their power to somehow carry on. Salles' direction is outstanding, as is Fernanda Torres's performance as Eunice, portraying the true story as well as the hardships of a remarkable woman with care and nuance.

For its rather heavy subject matter, I'm Still Here is exceptionally well-paced. Early scenes before Rubens' disappearance convincingly convey joy, if not a sense of security, showing the idyllic day-to-day lives of the Paiva family enjoying the beach near their home and celebrating birthdays with friends set to Brazilian pop-rock. Vera's "sensory experience" letter from London with accompanying 8mm film and vinyl record is particularly fun. As Rubens is taken from his family by a squad of inconspicuously terrifying people, Torres work as Eunice make her the prefect audience surrogate as the tension and fear ramp up to a visceral level, particularly during Eunice's imprisonment while she, along with the viewer, is still kept in the dark about Rubens' fate. Torres' deftly delivers her most powerful moment of the film when Eunice openly confronts the men observing her home sitting in a car across the street, after their carelessness brings tragedy upon the family dog. The final sequences of the picture set in 1996 and 2014 serve to demonstrate that life moves on and may even flourish, but the scars left upon the victims of a fascist regime never fully heal.

As much an account of personal hardship as it is a cautionary reminder of the horrors endured by a country ruled by a military dictatorship, I'm Still Here is an uncompromising picture that authentically portrays dark times without sensationalism. It's a solid film, superbly directed and featuring excellent performances, particularly from its leading lady. The story is one of hope, of life persevering against cold and uncaring forces, of fighting for and disseminating the truth long after the transgression so that it is never forgotten, and it is one that will always be worth telling.

FRAGMENTS

- Pimpão the dog is truly adorable, and I was justifiably worried form him since the film's opening moments

- The soldier overseeing Eunice during her imprisonment letting her know he "doesn't think it's right" is just slightly endearing but infuriatingly frustrating

Emilia Pérez

EMILIA PÉREZ

2024 | Dir. Jacques Audiard | 132 Minutes

"Changing the soul changes society, changing society changes it all."

A Mexican cartel boss coerces struggling lawyer Rita Mora Castro for assistance to secretly arrange gender-affirming surgery and begin a new life. Years later, the former kingpin Emilia Pérez needs Rita's help again, requesting to reconnect with her family while taking on the false identity of an estranged relative. Returning to Mexico, Emilia uses the her wealth to help families victimized by gang violence, but the sins of her vicious past inevitably collide with her altruistic present.

Adapted from a portion of Boris Razon's 2018 novel Écoute, writer/director Jacques Audiard's Emilia Pérez is ostensibly a bold and daring musical about how the transformation of one person may change the world, but the evident lack of care the film has for handling its subject matter destroys any sense of emotional earnestness that's essential for this type of story to work. Centered around a transgender protagonist, the narrative leans hard into tired outdated plot tropes for queer people, the worst of which is the character's nonsensical decision to totally abandon her family as a part of her transition only for her to reconnect with them through underhanded deceptive means. The narrative seemingly takes on more poignant aspects in the second act as Emilia establishes a nonprofit organization to help bring closure to families who had fallen victim to cartel violence, but things quickly go off the rails and the film turns into a clumsy pseudo-telenovela pastiche involving romantic affairs and custody battles, offering little in the way of either amusement or catharsis. The feature comes off as cheap and disingenuous, stripping away any meaning from the marginalized peoples it chooses to focus on, rendering them mere aesthetic choices utilized in questionable taste.

Stylistically on an overall level, Emilia Pérez is more visually garish than appealing. The elaborate dance choreography is consistently hamstrung by some truly off-putting lyrics in the featured songs, making many of the musical numbers a real chore to sit through save for a handful of highlights. "La Vaginoplastia" with its lyrics listing away various gender-affirming surgical procedures kicks off amusingly enough but quickly overstays its welcome, and "El Amor" with Emilia contemplating how she is "half him, half her, half kingpin, half queen" before segueing into a poorly-written ballad about "making love with love" is confounding bad. "Para," highlighting the good work of Emilia's nonprofit through the point of view of the families and its ex-criminal volunteers seeking redemption is one of the few songs with genuinely poignant moments, while the rap-rock number "El Mal" with Rita expressing her anger over the misdeeds of the nonprofit's most prominent donors is the only sequence that somewhat convincingly strikes an engaging defiant punk rock tone.

As the titular lead, Karla Sofía Gascón delivers a serviceably compelling performance despite the shortcomings of the screenplay. Zoe Saldaña demonstrates maximum effort as Emilia's put-upon lawyer Rita, showing off impressive skills in the most physically demanding role of the film. The supporting cast includes Selena Gomez looking and sounding out-of-place as Emilia's ex-wife Jessi, Adriana Paz in a mostly thankless part of Emilia's love interest Epifanía, and Édgar Ramírez as Jessi's lover Gustavo who hardly registers as a character until the plot calls for an unimaginative car crash finale.

On paper, Emilia Pérez is a rather simplistic tale of change, love, and redemption. In execution, the film is a bafflingly misguided movie musical that fumbles its depiction of transgender people and the plight of the victims of cartel violence. The picture is a bizarre curiosity at best, a harmfully inauthentic representation of real world struggles at worst. Principal players Gascón and Saldaña show impressive commitment to their respective roles, but the dialogue and the musical numbers, ranging in quality and tone from awkwardly campy to downright awful, all but undermine their work. The topical issues the production utilizes as set dressing deserve much more thoughtful treatment than this.

FRAGMENTS

- Props to the filmmakers for casting a trans woman to play a trans woman, but not like this, not like this

- The comparisons between this and Mrs. Doubtfire are hilarious, but also sadly quite accurate

- I found the way the dialogue casually deadnames and misgenders Emilia particularly jarring

- Much has been said by others more qualified than I am regarding the mish-mash of the cast's non-Mexican accents, with particular criticism directed towards Selena Gomez's Spanish -- as a Cantonese-speaker subjected to all manner of bad Chinese in American and European cinema, I totally empathize

MCU CONNECTIONS

- Zoe Saldaña (Gamora in Guardians of the Galaxy, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame, and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3)