Lords of Chaos, Bohemian Rhapsody, A Star is Born, there is no shortage of movies in the last year that are taking on the musical personalities. Vox Lux is another to add to the list but instead focuses more on the singular person, rather than the music.
Starring Raffey Cassidy and Natalie Portman as fictional personality Celeste, and Jude Law as her manager, the film is split into two different timelines; one looking at how she got her fame, and then 17 years later following how the life has affected her.
The film opens with a shocking scene in a school that hopes to set the tone for the rest of the film. Stark and uncompromising, it was an assault on the senses and grabs your attention, but fails to really do anything with it from that point on. With media attention from the event, a touching original tribute song becomes a national sensation as the country mourns together, and catapults the young girls into celebritydom.
The film has several acts but is overall split into two sections, and it is unfortunate that the two halves do not connect together very well. The first reason for this is simply the casting choice. While Raffey Cassidy is a brilliant young innocent child version of Celeste that has been through trauma, and Natalie Portman does a great job as the unstable pop diva Celeste struggling with fame and that same trauma, the decision to cast Raffey Cassidy as Celeste's daughter aswell in the future/current timeline does nothing but create absolute confusion. The 17 year gap between times is bad enough, but to suddenly have the exact same actress portraying a different character in the same room as the character she was previously playing...it was a horrible idea. Was it really too difficult to find another young actress?
This does cause some other issues visually as well, as the differences in facial features become much more prominent when you place past Celeste and future Celeste in so many scenes together. It really tears at the viewer's suspension of belief. Of course, both actresses had some great performances, but the separation of years, and still having them together did nothing but bring about questions as to who was who. And that meant you weren't paying attention to the plot anymore.
There are some interesting themes on display, looking at links between celebrity and idol worship with the likes of terrorism, corruption, and substance abuse, showing the toll that occurs when a youth is thrust into such a role by a society that trying to come to terms with its own flaws. But as with most big budget films, it only skims the surface of the issue, not delving deeper into where the responsibilities lie.
The film tries it's best to remain not biased in its representation and uses the 17-year gap to introduce events that have effected the growth of Celeste as a person. By not actually visually showing us these events, the audience is instead forced to come up with our own perspectives of whether we agree or disagree with the protagonist's life decisions, without any of the emotional bias that would otherwise accompany such scenes. It creates a more straightforward view of the character but it also makes you spend more time figuring out the character rather than paying attention to the dialogue and actions, to which Natalie Portman puts a hell of a lot of effort into. As well as feeling like we have missed out on watching a more exciting part of the film.
Audiences love watching the rise and fall of a character, but Vox Lux shows us neither. We miss near enough all of the significant moments in Celeste's life, instead, being fed it through some oddly placed narration from Willem Dafoe. The story all builds up to...nothing.
As far as the soundtrack goes Sia creates some great tracks that work really well with the style of the show and the aesthetics of the artist, but you can't help but feel like this was the one thing that was being used to carry the film, and as such it lingers on these performances for far too long. Great performances with some great visuals, but they put nothing towards the plot, so it feels like it is all just filler, and that is the worst kind of climax to a film that you can get.
Vox Lux takes a more emotional perspective on the creation of a pop star and creates a genuine character, but the way the film was directed is all over the place, with some rather unconventional casting choices making this film convoluted and directionless.
Starring Raffey Cassidy and Natalie Portman as fictional personality Celeste, and Jude Law as her manager, the film is split into two different timelines; one looking at how she got her fame, and then 17 years later following how the life has affected her.
The film opens with a shocking scene in a school that hopes to set the tone for the rest of the film. Stark and uncompromising, it was an assault on the senses and grabs your attention, but fails to really do anything with it from that point on. With media attention from the event, a touching original tribute song becomes a national sensation as the country mourns together, and catapults the young girls into celebritydom.
The film has several acts but is overall split into two sections, and it is unfortunate that the two halves do not connect together very well. The first reason for this is simply the casting choice. While Raffey Cassidy is a brilliant young innocent child version of Celeste that has been through trauma, and Natalie Portman does a great job as the unstable pop diva Celeste struggling with fame and that same trauma, the decision to cast Raffey Cassidy as Celeste's daughter aswell in the future/current timeline does nothing but create absolute confusion. The 17 year gap between times is bad enough, but to suddenly have the exact same actress portraying a different character in the same room as the character she was previously playing...it was a horrible idea. Was it really too difficult to find another young actress?
This does cause some other issues visually as well, as the differences in facial features become much more prominent when you place past Celeste and future Celeste in so many scenes together. It really tears at the viewer's suspension of belief. Of course, both actresses had some great performances, but the separation of years, and still having them together did nothing but bring about questions as to who was who. And that meant you weren't paying attention to the plot anymore.
There are some interesting themes on display, looking at links between celebrity and idol worship with the likes of terrorism, corruption, and substance abuse, showing the toll that occurs when a youth is thrust into such a role by a society that trying to come to terms with its own flaws. But as with most big budget films, it only skims the surface of the issue, not delving deeper into where the responsibilities lie.
The film tries it's best to remain not biased in its representation and uses the 17-year gap to introduce events that have effected the growth of Celeste as a person. By not actually visually showing us these events, the audience is instead forced to come up with our own perspectives of whether we agree or disagree with the protagonist's life decisions, without any of the emotional bias that would otherwise accompany such scenes. It creates a more straightforward view of the character but it also makes you spend more time figuring out the character rather than paying attention to the dialogue and actions, to which Natalie Portman puts a hell of a lot of effort into. As well as feeling like we have missed out on watching a more exciting part of the film.
Audiences love watching the rise and fall of a character, but Vox Lux shows us neither. We miss near enough all of the significant moments in Celeste's life, instead, being fed it through some oddly placed narration from Willem Dafoe. The story all builds up to...nothing.
As far as the soundtrack goes Sia creates some great tracks that work really well with the style of the show and the aesthetics of the artist, but you can't help but feel like this was the one thing that was being used to carry the film, and as such it lingers on these performances for far too long. Great performances with some great visuals, but they put nothing towards the plot, so it feels like it is all just filler, and that is the worst kind of climax to a film that you can get.
Vox Lux takes a more emotional perspective on the creation of a pop star and creates a genuine character, but the way the film was directed is all over the place, with some rather unconventional casting choices making this film convoluted and directionless.