Found myself even more absorbed by the idiosyncratic artificial magic of Leos Carax ‘s bleak and morbid anti-musical in cinema.A film that is so incredibly operatic and theatrically over the top yet it’s so committed to go against the norms of cinema and theaters,that stageness only highlight the hypocrisy&fakeness of audiences and shallow media coverage as all that glamour are stripped of the polishedness and depicted with an almost tv like cheapness.It’s not as surreal and imaginative as holy motors but I prefer Carax’s provocative and sometimes meta approach to musical than just the latest musical trend of slavishly reproducing the golden age nostalgia of a classic musical or go the route of full on music video like the dogshit the Greatest showman.The songs by Sparks brothers are as unconventional as the band themselves,and now we start,you used to laugh and sympathy for the abyss are some all timer great songs,capturing the raw rage and somberness so powerfully.
Performance wise Cotillard is wildly miscast and so unwatchably flat to the point of almost detracting this movie for me,Driver’s demented and vile performance absolutely captivated me from start to end tho,psychotic but like the abyss he stares into theres undoubtedly something so utterly mesmerizing yet disturbing about it,toxic masculinity crank up to eleven with tons of sweat and almost outrageously insane amount of sexiness,he made one of the darkest and perhaps best character of his career so far.The menace and sociopath known as Henry Mchenry doesn’t get off lightly tho as in its final moment the film delivers an incredibly devastating but cathartic condemnation of him,the magic of the music that gaslights the audiences and justify his action are no more as he is exposed as the worthless nasty piece of shit he is.On the other hand Helberg’s tenderness has such a sensitive touch that one can’t help but resonate with his melancholy,his conductor scene with the spinning camera shots are some of the best cinematic moments of 2021 movies made even better with the sound system of cinema.Rewatching it have slightly lowered my ratings for it as Cotillard is just so bad there’s moment I want to step out cause I can’t stand it but the rest remains so exhilarating to experience.❤️
For my more detailed review click here.