Emilia Perez comes in with a lot of buzz after winning four awards at the Golden Globes (including Best Picture musical or comedy), so I went into this thinking there must be something great about it. I can say I didn’t hate it, but I’m not sure what they were going for here.
The tone is some sort of in between edgy and tender. But like, also – ridiculous. The story is about a Mexican cartel leader who hires a lawyer (Zoe Saldana) to help assist him in transitioning to a woman with a secretive operation and a new identity. Oh, and then there is singing and dancing with cringy lyrics and cacophonous music.
I love musicals and will always defend someone breaking out into song and dance to illustrate an emotion or carry a story forward because I already subscribe to that artistic style. However, the absurdity of one of the early scenes made me question the intention of this film. Honestly it seemed to poke fun at things I shouldn’t be laughing at, which made me uncomfortable.
Saldana’s performance is impressive and somehow she rises above the weirdness, actually delivering some emotion that moves the plot along. Selena Gomez did ok, and Karla Sofía Gascón (Emilia) was good, but none of them sent me to the moon. Visually there are some electric dance scenes that feel and sound visionary, but most of the time it seems like we are watching a rehearsal.
Overall this movie is frustrating because it feels like I’m missing something when it has 13 nominations. This might be one of the first years that I feel like I am able to catch all of the nominated films prior to the Oscars, but it doesn’t mean I’m going to like them all.