Emilia Pérez

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.

Sorry, I've got to say it. EMILIA PEREZ IS NOT A GOOD MOVIE. It's not a Razzie film by any stretch, but it's practically incoherent narrative flow, at times excruciating dialog and lack of internal logic leave it as a mediocre straight-to Netflix commoner in the movie space. I'll give you an example of its bad script, in the movie the characther says "Bienvenido" which means Welcome, but in the context of the conversation she means to say "Your Welcome", "De nada" in Spanish. It seems they did the writing in French and use google for translation. Yes, it covers some important themes and issues, but that doesn't make your movie good. You still have to build a fundamentally good film around the issues or it's just noise. And that's Emilia Perez... just noise.

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.

This would have been better served as a straightforward drama. That said, as it's presented, this movie manages to be both vapid & pretentious - with songs/dance numbers that are boring, unmemorable, and, at times, feel completely incongruous. Also, outside of Zoe Saldana, it's a lot of bad to mediocre performances.

I don't understand what the point of this was. Am I supposed to empathize with the former cartel kingpin? Why was Zoe Saldana's character chosen to be involved with everything to begin with? The entire plot/storyline is disorienting & disjointed. The love this movie is getting by award bodies right now is befuddling.

Emilia Pérez has sparked significant controversy, and for good reason. From the outset, the lack of Mexican representation like a glaring oversight. The French director's admission that he didn't feel the need to research Mexico, paired with the casting director's claim that no talented Mexican actors could be found, only adds insult to injury. These choices reflect a tone-deaf and dismissive approach to authenticity.

What's even more baffling is how Emilia Pérez managed to garner so many Oscar nominations. While the Academy has a history of nominating films with problematic undertones (The Help, Green Book), those at least offered stories that entertained broad audiences. Emilia Pérez, however, doesn't even accomplish that. The story is dull and lifeless, so much so that out of three of us who watched it, two fell asleep, and the third decided to switch to another movie.

To make matters worse, Emilia Pérez is a musical - but not in a good way. The songs are forgettable at best and cringe-worthy at worst, and most of the cast can barely sing. The musical numbers, which should have been a highlight, drag the movie down even further.

That said, there are a couple of redeeming elements. Zoe Saldaña and Karla Sofía Gascón deliver strong performances and truly don't deserve the backlash tied to the film's broader issues. Their nominations are the only ones that feel genuinely earned. Unfortunately, the rest of the film is a mess.

Overall, Emilia Pérez is an underwhelming, uninspired production that fails to justify the attention it's received.