Category: REVIEWS

Brady Corbet’s new film about the pitfalls of stardom is an interesting but flawed picture; one with worthwhile themes and terrific performances, but not with a great deal to say. 

Vox Lux stars both Natalie Portman and Raffey Cassidy as Celeste, a singer who shot to fame at a very young age after a childhood tragedy. The film is split into two, as we see her find success as a teenager, and also wrestle with the media after another sad event takes place on the day of her concert years later.

There is no question that the film offers plenty to be admired. It’s frankly gorgeous to look at, with Lol Crawley’s wonderful cinematography bringing the story to life in a beautiful yet distorted way that is both thematically-pleasing and enthralling, wonderfully complimented by Scott Walker’s chilling score.

Its central performances are also terrific, with Natalie Portman in particular at her absolute best, completely transforming into the role and clearly having the time of her life doing so. Raffey Cassidy does good work, particularly as Celeste’s daughter Albertine in an odd yet successful casting choice in the film’s second half. One moment in a restaurant stands out for both performers, who share excellent chemistry as they vie for the spotlight. 

The fundamental flaw with Vox Lux is its theme, or rather its execution. Corbet is trying to get to the bottom of such a figure as Celeste, where she has come from and how she must have changed to become what she is. However, while this is all portrayed in a very subtle fashion for the majority of the picture, it’s the closing minutes that let it down. Willem Defoe’s misplaced narration interrupts Celeste’s show to spell things out to the audience in a rather lazy fashion. It’s an ending that undermines all the interesting work that came before it, ultimately leaving the viewer with a sour taste. 

Undoubtedly, the concert sequence is absolutely fantastic. It’s presented with class, aided by memorable original music from Sia, and Portman absolutely owns the stage. However, while the show is indeed worth the wait, it’s simply complimented by an ending that feels too obvious and easy to be truly affecting.

Throughout the film, there are other moments like this in which Corbet acts against subtlety and chooses the easy way out, including the catastrophe in the second act that feels like an out-of-place choice used simply to incite shock as opposed to being perhaps what the story actually needed.

In the end, Vox Lux is an interesting film with engaging moments throughout that simply never amounts to anything special. It’s a film with a lot to say, but it isn’t saying anything new, nor is it saying it in a particularly clever way. It’s beautifully presented and extremely well-acted, but its themes don’t land the way Corbet clearly wants them to. It’s all just too self-important to work and, for all its qualities, it sadly fades away into nothing as the third act draws the film to a close in the least satisfying way. 

It’s not without its high-points, and it’s certainly worth watching for each and every one of them, but overall Vox Lux feels like a film that never fully became the sum of its parts. 

Saraya Knight (Florence Pugh) and her family are obsessed with wrestling. The entire family perform in a wrestling show that they set up themselves and by day they have a wrestling school where Soraya’s brother, Zak (Jack Lowden) teaches people how to wrestle. Then one day the family receive a phone call from WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) saying that they want Zak and Saraya to come down to London so they can audition to become part of their show.

The siblings are extremely excited as this has been their dream since they were kids but after a gruelling audition process, Saraya is picked to follow her dream and Zak is not. After some encouragement from her brother, Saraya heads off to California, the family are elated but Zak doesn’t deal with his sister’s success as he initially lets her believe.

Fighting with My Family is a funny and uplifting British underdog story that will win over wrestling and non-wrestling fans alike. The underdog sports movie has been done many times before but the audience soon starts rooting for Saraya as they believe in her passion which is in no small part thanks to Pugh’s heartfelt performance.

As the movie progresses it brings up issues such as body image, sibling rivalry and what it means to be a woman in the public eye, so even if wrestling is not your thing there may be something in the movie that strikes a chord. Saraya’s eventual and inevitable triumph is only heightened by not only winning a place over her peers but by being accepted – by her peers, by Soraya accepting them and most importantly accepting herself.

The movie is a pretty straightforward telling of a sports story that has been seen many times before so the formula will leave no surprises as to how the story goes. However, its unique take on the genre and the British sensibility and humour sets it apart from other movies with the same themes. It also features the most British pub fight scene I have probably ever seen.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqF3VTv0cqU

The supporting cast are all great including Nick Frost as Saraya’s dad who puts in a fine performance which is as touching as it is comedic. Jack Lowden also has the difficulty of showing the inner turmoil over his sister’s success but he manages to never make the audience hate him as he wallows in his self-pity.

If I were to make any criticism though, it would be that the times where Saraya feels upset feel a little on the nose and I feel perhaps the real Saraya wouldn’t have spent as much time crying in her bedroom. In the end though, Fighting with My Family is an unlikely hit from the most unlikely of sources (Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson and Stephen Merchant). Its unique angle is just the thing that lifts it above the comedy sports genre and opens up wrestling to an audience who may have never been interested in neither sports no wrestling before.

[This review contains spoilers]

Elizabeth Harvest is a sci-fi thriller set in the remote home of tortured genius and budding Dr Frankenstein, Henry.

Director Sebastian Gutierrez makes the most of a small cast, comprising Ciarán Hinds, Abbey Lee, Matthew Beard (Oliver), Dylan Baker (local cop Logan), as well as his partner and long time collaborator Carla Gugino as Henry’s assistant/maid Claire. Each one of them deeply creepy in their own way.

Elizabeth Harvest is a solid example of the male gaze in film. Elizabeth, played by Abbey Lee, and looking much younger than her 31 years is within minutes identified as the new bride of Henry (66 year old Hinds). Mercifully the sex scenes between the couple are minimal, though Elizabeth is partially clothed or entirely naked for much of the time. Claire too for good measure. Of course, women have two natural states: the sensual rubbing-all-objects-within-reach one, and the running away from attackers one. Elizabeth goes about exploring her new home like a sexy cat.

Henry, with his “brilliant mind”, has created Elizabeth in his underground lab. She is a clone of his deceased wife, and he has his reasons. However (remember Dolly the sheep?) cloning comes with problems, to which Gutierrez devotes a third of the film. But how successful is it to explore the details in this type of sci-fi? It doesn’t necessarily make the premise more plausible, and can disrupt the rhythm of the story as a whole. Similarly, with the question of time travel in Looper (2012), Old Joe (Bruce Willis) sidesteps the problem: “I don’t want to talk about time travel shit, ’cause if we start talking about it then we’re gonna be here all day” In other words, it’s best not to think too hard about the mechanics of it, especially if, as Elizabeth Harvest demonstrates, it dissolves into exposition in much the same way as a L’Oreal advert (Here comes the science).

In terms of style, Elizabeth Harvest is very Ex Machina (2014). This includes the secluded location, appearance of the building, underground laboratory, and the heavy-handed security measures. As we know, evil geniuses all make use of the same architecture firm.

Among other things, Ex Machina touched on the ethics of Artificial Intelligence – consciousness, the rights of intelligent beings. Elizabeth Harvest contains a similar problem: Henry has created clones, which are his property. Therefore he can use or dispose of them at will. There is much discussion at the moment on separating the art from the artist, but what about separating the science from the scientist? His inner circle seem to have made the separation successfully. The attitude of the characters seems to be: this plan is diabolical, but Henry’s mind is brilliant, so I have to go along with it, plus this is the way he is handling his grief. Claire, Oliver and Logan all find a way to enable him despite any reservations.

“The abduction tradition, dating back to Roman times” mentioned at the start by Henry is explored with academic rigour in the Roger Moore film The Rape of the Sabines.

Watch the Elizabeth Harvest trailer below: