Ema

I have mixed feelings about Ema - the film, and Ema - the main character. In both respects, there are great strengths and great weaknesses.

Ema is a young female dancer, who is married to her older, impotent choreographer (Gael Garcia Bernal). We learn early on that they adopted a boy called Polo, but gave him back after finding he had destructive tendencies. These tendencies are in Ema as well, and she is blamed by her husband and others for their failure at parenthood. So Ema decides to go on an anarchic rampage, literally blazing everything in her way. However, by the end of this story we realise that there is a method in her madness. She has worked out, in her own bizarre way, how to get exactly what she wants, and the plot quite cleverly ties up all the loose ends.

The cinematography will make your jaw drop at times, it's visually breathtaking and even the most ordinary scenes are beautifully framed and coloured. Nicolas Jaar's soundtrack is the sensual icing on the cake that draws you further in. The acting throughout is impressive, especially the lead played by Mariana Di Girólamo. She portrays the troubled but ultimately free spirit with a confident, seductive swagger. So far so good.

I think the main problem with the film is it's tone. It's confused. At no point do I know what to feel about any of the characters, and by the end I don't really care. This is particularly a problem with Ema. What are her intentions? Is she sympathetic, selfish, or unknowable? It seems that Larrain wants her to remain a mystery, but there's really not enough emotional depth to her character. She just comes across as impulsive and reckless. We find out what she really wants at the end, but it should have been obvious throughout. Then I might have believed that she actually cared about something. Gael Garcia Bernal is also wasted as a bitter but pathetic husband who contributes very little to the story.

Most of the film comes across as pretentious and showy. This is fine when it turns into a musical with extraordinary choreography, but it's lacking elsewhere. Likewise the cinematography often feels more like a music video or fashion promo, aesthetically spectacular but all surface value.

It's a shame, because if Larrain was more intent on guiding us through this story rather than shutting us out, it could have been a modern classic. Instead he decides to leave us lost and stranded along the way, without much clue of why anything is happening or where we are going. There's a big difference between mystery and confusion.

Having said that, there's still much to love about this film and I would recommend it to anyone. There's plenty to enjoy along the way, even if it is often irritating.

A departure for Chilean Director Pablo Larrain from his string of historical dramas (NO, NERUDA, JACKIE and the Princess Di biopic, SPENCER), his latest concerns Ema, a free-spirited young dancer (Mariana Di Girolamo) who is in a dissolving marriage from her older husband and choreographer, Gaston (Gael Garcia Bernal). They have given up their son for adoption and the reprisals have only intensified. The general outline has all the makings of a psychological thriller, but, Larrain and his co-writers are operating on a number of gears.

Ema, with her shock of cropped platinum blond hair, is a veritable flamethrower constantly sending out verbal and behavioral missives without inhibition. She is omnisexual and voracious. By contrast, Gaston is still and taciturn. Di Girolamo dives headlong into her character, leaving Bernal seeming even more tame than the part requires. Larrain has said that the actors weren't given the full script ahead of time, which may have hampered Bernal more than some of the other, less experienced, cast members.

Well photographed by Sergio Armstrong and experimentally scored by Nicolas Jaar, EMA has an icy sheen that can be alternately alluring and distancing - not unlike it's title character. It's certainly never less than interesting and there is a payoff of sorts, but the chaotic screenplay weakens its overall impact. Still, for the adventurous viewer, this is like a heady fractured adult nursery rhyme. Oh, and there are flamethrowers!

Larrain has done better movies. This time, there's less to it than meets the eye and ear. The scenic city of Valparaiso is the best actor in the movie, while the pulsing soundtrack overplays its hand.

You can enjoy the dry humour, the local culture and swiftly shifting alliances, but the main problem is the eponymous female lead. Whose intersecting compulsions of narcissism, pyromania, dancing, and evil-doing, are sometimes hard to follow and not always easy to believe.

Self-absorbed Ema thinks she is a fascinating character. The director rather agrees - but he doesn't always make the case to the viewer.

It could be the illegitimate offspring of Lynch, Almodovar and Gaspar Noe baked at Fahrenheit 451 for good measure. Tricky to align with reality, thought provoking nonetheless, beautifully acted and imaginative.

As "Ema" (2019 release from Chile; 107 min.) opens, we see a traffic light on fire, literally. As the camera scans back, we see a woman (Ema) walking away while she is holding a flamethrower. We then get to know Ema, a modern ballet dancer, and her husband Gaston, a troupe's choreographer. They argue back and forth about the fate of their 9 yr. Old child Polo, whom they had adopted but recently was taken away by (or turned in to?) the Children's Protection Services. What did Polo do exactly? At this point we are less than 10 min. Into the movie but to tell you more would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.

Couple of comments: this is the latest movie from Chilean director Pablo Lorrain. In fact it's his first movie since directing hos Hollywood debut in 2016 with the widely acclaimed "Jackie". For "Ema", he returns to Chile, and more specifically the Pacific Ocean town Valparaiso (itself a character and star in this film). The film is a fascinating mix of a family and relationship drama on the one hand, and more abstract observations on the other hand, topped off with a generous dose of reggaeton music and modern dancing. Beware: the movie features a LOT of nudity, so if that is an issue for you, I'd suggest you check out something else. The cast is for us Americans completely unknown, but kudos to Mariana Di Girolamo, who is just fantastic in the title role.

As noted in the film's end credits, the entire movie was filmed in Valparaiso in September of 2018. It premiered a year later at the 2019 Venice Film Festival. Then COVID messed up a theatrical release in the US. Now 3 years later after shooting, the movie had gotten a limited theatrical release in the US. It opened this weekend at my local arthouse theater here in Cincinnati, and I couldn't wait to see it. The early Saturday evening screening where I saw this at turned out to be a private screening. I literally was the only person in the theater. Never mind. If you are in the mood for a top notch foreign family and relationship drama, I'd readily suggest you check this out, be it in the theater (while you still can), on VOD, or on DVD/Blu-ray, and draw your own conclusion.