Movie Review: Acclaimed ‘Emilia Pérez’ Feels More Like ‘Mrs. Doubtfire’ Meets Telenovelas
As this year’s film festival circuit winds down and awards season commences, we seem to already be receiving 2024’s equivalent of Paul Haggis’ Crash (2004) and Peter Farrelly’s Green Book (2018). It’s a movie that intends to be morally progressive but is too flawed and ignorant to actually make a difference.When Jacques Audiard’s Emilia Pérez made a splash at Cannes, Telluride and Toronto this past year, many critics and pundits predicted Zoe Saldaña, Karla Sofía Gascón and even Selena Gomez might get Oscar nominations. But as the picture hits select theaters and streaming this month, movie fans have been roasting the film.This is a great cast directed by the same filmmaker of acclaimed dramas like A Prophet (2009), Rust and Bone (2012) and Dheepan (2015). What went wrong?In present day Mexico City, Rita Mora (Saldaña) is a struggling lawyer who has to take whichever clients she can get, even if it means going against her own beliefs. After she begrudgingly helps a murderer get off the hook, she receives a secret offer from a local cartel leader, Juan De Monte (Gascón), to help find him a surgeon so he can fulfill his desire to transition into a woman and leave behind his kingpin reputation. After succeeding at his offer, Rita takes her large payment to expand her law career and Juan begins going by ‘Emilia Pérez.’ When the two bump into each other four years later while Rita is living in London, she discovers Emilia wants to reconnect with her kids from her estranged wife, Jessi (Gomez).Édgar Ramírez appears as Jessi’s lover after Juan/Emilia leaves the family to start a new life. Emilia Pérez is loosely based off Boris Razon’s 2018 novel Écoute as well as an expansion of Audiard’s own 2021 opera also titled Emilia Pérez. While the new foreign film has all the potentialwith the talented actors and flashy visuals, the story and character arcs are just too convoluted to naturally come together.A big problem is that — besides the dialogue being primarily Spanish, the cast being mostly Hispanic, and Gascón being trans — no one behind the scenes is actually Latino or a part of the LGBTQ community. This is a CIS and French-directed, written and produced feature and it shows.Obviously artists are allowed to set their work outside of their own home or orientation, but the problem here is that it’s just really obvious the creators don’t have any actual experience or association with either representation here. On top of all this, Emilia Pérez is — like Todd Phillips’ Joker: Folie à Deux — a musical made by people who clearly aren’t trained in that area.Watching the musical numbers actually makes us wish Emilia Pérez was either a straight melodrama or a full-on opera like Audiard initially intended. The songs are strangely short and end abruptly, which makes the sequences feel amateurish. Although Gascón and Gomez are fine, the real acting standout holding the whole film together is Saldaña. After spending over a decade in extensive costumes and make-up for Marvel, Avatar and Star Trek, it’s great to see her dramatic range again, as well as her gifted dancing, since she was originally a ballerina before switching to cinema. It’s also a nice rarity to hear her speak fluent Spanish.It’s too bad the material doesn’t always match the level of the performances. Ultimately, Emilia Pérez is an imperfect effort that means well, but ends up feeling like Chris Columbus’ Mrs. Doubtfire (1993) meets telenovelas.
UCSD Could Own Former MCASD Site at Santa Fe Depot by Year’s End After Council Decision
MCASD’s downtown site at the Santa Fe Depot opened in 2007. Photo credit: https://mcasd.org/The San Diego City Council has approved a transfer of property that marks a key milestone in a collaboration for a downtown cultural center.The decision, to allow UC San Diego to take ownership of 1100 Kettner Boulevard from the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, will help the university in its pursuit of becoming “a destination for arts, culture and lifelong education for both the campus and our broader community,” said Chancellor Pradeep K. Khosla. “This museum will extend our arts programming to downtown, forge connections between artists across our binational region, and catalyze a thriving arts culture in the heart of the city,” he added. The university plans to purchase the property on the Santa Fe Depot stop of the San Diego Trolley’s Blue Line and invest significant resources in initial upgrades that would include everything from a seismic retrofit to making the space fully adaptable for a wide array of programming. With the Nov. 19 approval from the city, the university anticipates closing escrow before the end of the year.“UC San Diego’s acquisition of the Santa Fe Depot building marks an exciting new chapter for this historic site,” said Steve Strauss, president of the MCASD board of trustees. “We trust that the university will be a good caretaker of the building and MCASD’s iconic site-specific art collection.”One goal for the downtown property is to create an ecosystem for students and people working in the arts to persuade them to remain in the area. Nonprofit residencies are planned, as well as studio space for individual visual artists. Built-in flexibility will ensure there is room for large-scale events and immersive experiences, as well as more intimate spaces for performance and visual art. In addition to providing space to produce, rehearse and perform, the university plans to support artists with ticketing and other administrative support.“The operational model we are designing for this beautiful space will offer essential resources that artists and nonprofits need to grow, thrive and sustain themselves,” said Colleen Kollar Smith, executive director of the Campus Performance and Events Office at UC San Diego.
Music Review: Big Head Todd Celebrates 40-Year Career at The Sound in Del Mar
Big Head Todd at The Sound. Photo by Donovan RocheIt’s common for bands to express appreciation for their fans during a live performance. But statements like, “Thanks for coming out tonight!” and “We love you [insert city name here]!” are so often repeated they ring pretty hollow.So, when Big Head Todd and The Monsters’ frontman Todd Park Mohr acknowledged the band’s 40th anniversary early into their Nov. 21 show at The Sound by saying, “Thank you for allowing us to live the lives we lead,” the sincerity caught me by surprise. It was genuinely grateful and the feeling filled the air from the first note to the final wave goodbye.The Colorado-based (and beloved) band eased into their nearly two-hour set with the slow-burning “Josephina” from their 2014 album Black Beehive. It was, perhaps, a subtle start to commemorating nearly four decades of music, but the opener was quickly followed by “Resignation Superman,” one of the group’s bigger hits. Featuring Mohr’s soaring vocals and chugging guitar, it confidently shifted the night into second gear.In addition to celebrating their 40th anniversary —the timing of which is a bit suspect given Big Head Todd officially formed in 1986, performing their first gig at a University of Colorado college party —the band took this occasion to perform three songs from their latest release, Her Way Out: “Into the Light,” the charming “Rainbow Girl” (inspired by Mohr’s 7-year-old daughter), and “My New Number One,” which blended nostalgic tastes of AC/DC guitars, Led Zeppelin drums, and Red Hot Chili Peppers vocals.Fans of Big Head Todd know of the rock band’s love of the blues. In fact, it’s what led to their name. Contrary to what some might think, “Big Head” doesn’t refer to the size of Todd’s noggin or his ego. The lead singer suggested the moniker Big Head Todd and The Monsters as a nod to jazz/blues artist Eddie “Cleanhead” Vinson and, to their surprise, it stuck.On this special night, the foursome — Mohr (vocals, guitar, harmonica), Brian Nevin (drums), Rob Squires (bass), and Jeremy Lawton (keyboards, lap steel guitar) — paid homage to some blues greats. Early in the set, they performed a faithful rendition of Willie Dixon’s “Sittin’ and Cryin’ the Blues.” Later, they thrilled the crowd with perennial crowd-pleaser “Boom Boom,” a 1961 John Lee Hooker tune that took on new life with Mohr’s gravelly growl. To their fans’ delight, Big Head Todd interlaced all three hits from their platinum-selling 1993 album Sister Sweetly. Squires’ bass groove held down the beautifully crafted “Bittersweet,” while the hard-rocking “Circle” featured a brief but brilliant guitar solo from Mohr. The anthemic “Broken Hearted Savior” kicked off their three-song encore, sparking a spirited crowd singalong.Big Head Todd’s fondness for performing covers during their live shows doesn’t stop at the blues. During the soulful “It’s Alright,” they slipped in a snippet of Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On” and then gave a wink to San Diego as a “harbor town” with the yacht rock staple “Brandy (You’re a Fine Girl)” that was every bit as good as the original. But they saved the best for last, closing out the 23-song night with Boston’s instrumental opus “Foreplay” — marked by Lawton’s ethereal keyboards and Nevin’s hard-driving drums — flowing seamlessly into Deep Purple’s high-octane “Highway Star.”Before exiting the stage, Mohr took one last moment to thank the near-capacity crowd for 40 years of support and shout out the venue’s sound (when is the last time you heard a band do that?), asking that we have them back. Something tells me Big Head Todd and The Monsters will grace San Diego stages more than a few times before their next milestone anniversary rolls around.Donovan Roche, a San Diego-based writer and editor, has covered the music, entertainment and arts scene for more than 30 years. Send your story ideas to droche617@gmail.com.
Categories
Recent Posts
