Film 2338 - Queer

Intro: Always excited to watch one of Luca Guadagnino's movies, especially when the story centers around queer characters.

Film 2338: "Queer" (2024), Luca Guadagnino
Watched on: At the movies
Language: English
Watched with: Niamh, Debbi
Thoughts: God I didn't like this movie.
Although I read very (and various) favorable reviews online, I have to admit that for me "Queer" was a drag. The story didn't resonate with me at all and i couldn't wait for it to be over, especially the second half of it. Once we hit the jungle looking for the mysterios telepathic plant this movie lost me. But let's not get ahead of ourselves...
Three things I particularly liked about "Queer": Daniel Craig's performance - which is great throughout, the craftmenship of this production (cinematography, score, art design and set decoration) and that, for once, Luca Guadagnino is finally centering a gay story around the man's body. On the latter, I noticed that Guadagnino tends to 'hide' the male body in a way that doesn't apply when it comes to the female one: particularly, in "Call Me By Your Name" he shows a naked woman in the film, but he refused to show the two leads naked and stated "that it was a conscious aesthetic decision" (more on this topic on this article by Variety). Also, I found "Challengers" to be a bit on the queerbaiting side of things.
That said, I appreciated this time around there was no hiding behind an aesthetic decision.
For the rest, I've found "Queer" extremely long (137 min) and suprisingly uneventful considering that we even venture to the jungle. This part specifically reminded me of the movie "The Lost City of Z", where the slow pacing and lack of major events resurfaced memories of Martin Scorsese's "Silence", tho I liked that one better.
All in all, considering how eger I was to watch this movie, I can't say I wasn't disappointed: it's too long and too slow and the second half of the story is too crazy and detached from the first half for my taste. No disrespect to the 1985 novella by William S. Burroughs from which the movie is based on as I haven't read it, but this is definitely not my cup of tea.
Cast: Daniel Craig, Drew Starkey, Jason Schwartzman, Henrique Zaga, Omar Apollo, Lesley Manville.
Box Office: $3.9 million
Worth a watch?: I wouldn't reccommend it. The pacing is slow and the story takes a crazy turn towards half the running time and it goes bonkers for a good while. If you're fan of William S. Burroughs's work you could give it a go, but embrace yourself for a long watch.
Awards: Daniel Craig was nominated at the Golden Globes for Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama and is currently nominated for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role at the SAG Awards.
The movie competed at the Venice Film Festival.
Key word: Telepathy.
Trailer
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Bengi

Film 2337 - Emilia Pérez

Intro: After all the award buzz this movie was getting, before Christmas I decided to give it a go.

Film 2337: "Emilia Pérez" (2024), Jacques Audiard
Watched on: From my computer
Language: Spanish
Watched with: no one
Thoughts: It has been a while since I watched it and, funny enough, "Emilia Pérez" is now gaining a bad reputation after its multiple wins at the Golden Globes last Sunday.
For a (long) moment, it seemed like nothing could stop this movie: it won a Cannes for Best Actress and was getting nominated (and winning) everywhere, especially the performance of it cast, particularly Zoe Saldaña. But something has shifted after the Globes - the first televised award ceremony of the year, people have started watching either the movie on Netflix or the clips on TikTok and this is where things went south. Especially after "Emilia Pérez", a musical, has beaten "Wicked", another musical, in the movie of the year category.
So here's the thing: I watched this movie in Spanish, I read the lyrics of the songs and I paid attention, because I felt this movie was going to play a big part at the Oscar this year. So it had my full attention. And I can say two things: "Emilia Pérez" is not as bad as they're trying to paint it now, but it isn't the greatest movie ever made either (needless to say).
I applaud the idea of a musical about a man from the Mexican cartel transitioning and the portray of the struggle that comes with it, I think it's a different idea and the movie has it's moments. I particularly apprecciated and admired Zoe Saldaña's performance: a few minutes into the movie and I was ready to bet on her for the Supporting Actress Oscar win. (I really do think she has it in the bag.)
That said, yes, I did struggle a bit with this watch. The movie is very long (132 min) and none of the songs is a hit, really. There are a few interesting ones also visually speaking, but no song stuck with me and, on the contrary, I felt some of the performances from the supporting cast were actually really bad vocally. I understand that they didn't chose professional singers (Selena Gomez aside, and she does a decent enough job here to be fair - and yeah, her Spanish is bad, but what did you expect?), but the end result is sometimes jarring.
So, although I appreciated some bits of this movie, "Emilia Pérez" is definitely not my favourite movie of the year. Its cast does a great job and I was captured by Karla Sofía Gascón's performance (not in the lead category tho, I'd say more supporting, where Saldaña is really in the lead here, but anyway), some of the visuals and its themes (although some are critizing the stereotypical portraayl of Mexica culture) but other than Saldaña, I wouldn't give this movie any other award.
Cast: Zoe Saldaña, Karla Sofía Gascón, Selena Gomez, Adriana Paz, Mark Ivanir, Édgar Ramírez.
Box Office: $9.8 million
Worth a watch?: Definitely not a movie for everybody. It's a long musical in Spanish about violence, abuse, transitioning and many other heavy themes that could scare some people away. If you're interested in the controversy stemmed from the Golden Globes, then I would reccomend watching this movie and make an opinion for yourself, rather than just watching a few clips online out of context. Otherwise, if you don't care or you're not necessarily connecting with "Emilia Pérez'" themes, I would skip this watch.
Awards: Nominated to 10 Golden Globes, the movie won 4 awards for Best Motion Picture Musical or Comedy, Best Supporting Actress (Saldaña), Best Motion Picture Non-English Language, and Best Original Song (for "El Mal"). Currently, the movie is also nominated to 3 Screen Actors Guild Awards for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture, Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role (Gascón) and Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role (Saldaña).
At Cannes 2024, the movie won for Best Actress (Zoe Saldaña, Karla Sofía Gascón, Selena Gomez, and Adriana Paz), the Jury Prize and the Soundtrack Award for Best Composer (Camille, Clément Ducol).
Key word: Children.
Trailer
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Bengi