While I like this film it's not nearly as much as I feel like I want to or as much as I should. Purely on a content basis it's my thing. I'm an easy sell on musicals, I like weird stuff, I like Sparks and I like the songs. Adam Driver is awesome.

But for me, my enjoyment of Annette is hampered for some perhaps shallow reasons. I think the biggest thing hurting my enjoyment is the choice to use live singing vs studio-recorded vocals. I think there are times when it can work but for a musical like this I think it does it a disservice, especially when it's meant to be so much of a fantasy. It doesn't need to be grounded, it needs to feel big and bold.

I'm also not a fan of the digital photography. There's plenty of films I think look amazing shot on digital but in this case it looks cheap in a way that works stylistically against the film. The movie would look better on film or at the very least given it a more cinematic look.

I'm definitely really frustrated. I wanted to love this film and maybe with rewatches the things that bother me will be less of an issue but for now I'm left positive but disappointed.