Emilia Pérez

I will start out by saying I am not a fan of operas. However this film was not what I had expected. The main characters were mostly unlikable. The plot was rather ridiculous. Certain actors were very miscast. Selena Gomez needed Spanish lessons. I am sure that anyone who lives in Mexico will hate this movie. The director isn't Mexican. I saw all the awards at the Golden Globes and that is the ony reason I decided to watch it. If you like any of the actors, you may want to give it a try. However I would have to say watch at your own risk. It is one of the worst films I have seen in the recent past.

I once heard that one of the great elements that should not be missing in a good script is emotionality, the construction of emotions and a good dose of sentimentality, so that the audience is hooked either to the characters, to the situations or to both. Of course, it's an element that must be combined with several others and mixed in the right and necessary quantities so that we can have a good story to see and tell. Well, Emilia Pérez has none of that. Zero. Nothing. There is no emotional construction of any character. The audience is bombarded with very direct situations that seem to be simulating a reality that seems, from its foundation, implausible. All this is done in a serious and apparently respectful manner, but it's like paying tribute to something abstract and indefinite.

The performances don't help. This is the worst Selena Gomez I have ever seen. Full of melodramatic exaggerations in a niche she doesn't belong in, and making it seem like she was acting reluctantly and forcefully. Even their songs in the movie are horribly performed. None of the songs are good, in any case. The rest of the cast has very discreet performances with the exception of Zoe Saldaña, who is the best in the film, however, I don't think it's enough for her to star in the awards season.

I empathize with the Mexican audience who has complained about all the cultural inaccuracies. I agree with everything that has already been mentioned before. This is a story about Mexico, made by people who are not Mexican and who didn't even care to look Mexican.

Regarding the gender identity part of the story, I think it's a mockery. It's an extreme situation that is very difficult to believe. An attempt is made to be inclusive with a delicate topic to end up being disastrously offensive with another ultra-sensitive topic such as the victims of extreme violence due to drug trafficking and gangs. It's thus a story without a head or tail, which was attempted to be put together to purposely polemicize and nothing else. It's really a shame that such poorly planned projects are given space, perhaps leaving out much better ones.

I don't want to close this review without first saying that the global film industry is very wrong if they believe that this is being inclusive, because this is a joke in very bad taste. It's a scandal that a film like this is celebrated with so many nominations and awards. Absolutely an aberration.

I am speechless... I'm guessing all the positive reviews are from people who a) don't speak Spanish and b) wanted their caricatures of Mexicans and trans people confirmed.

The dialogues are insufferable, no one speaks like that, the music is jarring, the accents (even though Zoe Saldana is clearly making a huge effort. Let's not even talk about Selena) are not good.

The bad words sprinkled thought the movie feel so unnatural, not only because of the delivery, but how they are used. This was clearly written by somebody with some vague knowledge of Mexican culture, but definitely not enough to make something good.

The only redeeming quality this movie has is that it's undoubtedly pretty. That's it.

Mexican people should avoid it at all costs.

It generally takes tremendous courage to stand up and proclaim that the Emperor is indeed naked, especially in the face of a crowd of willfully blind onlookers who contend otherwise. Nevertheless, there are times when this truly needs to be said in light of an inexplicably misguided view to the contrary. And that's certainly the case with the latest from often-overrated writer-director Jacques Audiard. This jumbled mess of a film can't make up its mind if it wants to be an edgy musical (given its forgettable songs and original score), a quasi-campy comedy (despite its palpable lack of bona fide humor but with a narrative that's admittedly frequently laughable), a crime thriller (one that feebly grows ever more pretentious, meandering, implausible and uncompelling with each passing frame) or a treatise on forgiveness and redemption that unapologetically drips with overwrought political correctness. In essence, this offering follows the exploits of Minitas (Karla Sofía Gascón), a Mexican drug cartel warlord who wants to undergo the transgender transition process to liberate the inner woman that has been inside him since birth, aided by a supposedly articulate and self-righteous lawyer (Zoe Saldaña) who hastily and seemingly thoughtlessly sells out with the promise of a financial windfall for her assistance. After undergoing the process, however, the newly emerged Emilia Pérez has regrets about her past, both in terms of her brutal "professional" behavior and the abandonment of her kids and shrewish, self-centered wife (a fine performance by Selena Gomez in one of the film's few praiseworthy assets). However, this change of heart, while modestly understandable, generally lacks believability. And, given the utterly reprehensible nature and baffling, head-scratchingly contradictory choices of all the principals, it's difficult to fathom how anyone would care a whit about any of them. That's especially true for the picture's lead, whose actions do little to generate any kind of meaningful empathy for transgender individuals and causes. And, through it all, the story is mystifyingly augmented with a slew of inconsistently timed, largely unremarkable musical production numbers that add precious little to the overall story (they could have been left out entirely and it would likely have made for a more compelling release). In sum, the finished product plays like a preposterously melodramatic Italian opera libretto mixed with elements from pictures like "Sicario" (2015) and any number of cheesy Mexican soap operas. How this cinematic morass has managed to garner as much attention as it has received is truly beyond me. That's especially true with the many undeserved accolades it has received, including 10 Golden Globe Award nominations (a virtually unheard-of number for any film in this awards competition), as well as honors from the Critics Choice Awards, the American Film Institute, and numerous film festivals, including the prestigious events in Cannes and Toronto. Indeed, don't be fooled into thinking that the blend of diverse elements here should be taken for inventive, inspired originality. But, more importantly, don't waste your time on this celluloid trash, despite how allegedly elegant the Emperor's outfits are said to be.

This movie is considered one of the best motion pictures of the past year? How? What a miserable experience. Why is this movie a musical? WHY? None of the songs do anything to advance the plot or tell us more about the characters, in fact the awful songwriting makes every scene with a song feel like instead of getting a deeper understanding of anything through song, the song is being used to tell us things that we can already see on screen and would be way more effectively communicated through better visual storytelling. The songs also don't really have any structure to them, they don't go anywhere. It genuinely feels like it was translated by Duolingo and the awful delivery of the lines (especially from Selena Gomez) doesn't help matters at all. Karla Gascón is fine...but not that fine to be nominated for an Oscar.