Current:Home > ScamsReview: 'Emilia Pérez' is the most wildly original film you'll see in 2024-Angel Dreamer Wealth Society D1 Reviews & Insights
Review: 'Emilia Pérez' is the most wildly original film you'll see in 2024
View Date:2024-12-23 10:51:46
The next time you can't decide what kind of movie to watch, stream "Emilia Pérez."
In just over two hours, there's pretty much everything: noir crime thriller, thought-provoking redemption tale, deep character study, comedic melodrama and, yes, even a go-for-broke movie musical.
The other important thing about Netflix’s standout Spanish-language Oscar contender? You won’t find a more talented group of women, whose performances keep French director Jacques Audiard’s movie grounded the more exaggerated it gets as the cast breaks into song-and-dance numbers.
Trans actress Karla Sofía Gascón is a revelation as a drug kingpin desperate to live a different, female existence in "Emilia Pérez" (★★★½ out of four; rated R; streaming Wednesday). She's one of several strong-willed personalities seeking inner joy or real love in their complicated lives: Selena Gomez plays a mom driven back into old bad habits, while Zoe Saldaña turns in an exceptional and multifaceted performance as an ambitious attorney caught in the middle of drama.
Join our Watch Party! Sign up to receive USA TODAY's movie and TV recommendations right in your inbox.
Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle.
Rita (Saldaña) is a defense lawyer in Mexico who toils for an unappreciative boss while also making him look good in court. But someone does notice her skills: Rita receives an offer she can’t refuse from Manitas (Gascón), a notorious cartel boss who yearns to live authentically as a woman and hires Rita to find the right person for the gender affirmation surgery. After moving Manitas’ wife Jessi (Gomez) and their two boys to Switzerland, Rita helps him fake his death while Manitas goes under the knife and becomes Emilia.
Four years later, Rita’s in London at a get-together when she meets and recognizes Emilia, who says she misses her children and wants Rita to help relocate them back to Mexico. (Emilia tells them she's Manitas' "distant cousin.") Rita moves back home and helps Emilia start a nonprofit to find the missing bodies of drug cartel victims for their family members. While Emilia tries to make amends for her crimes, she becomes increasingly angry at Jessi for neglecting the kids and reconnecting with past lover Gustavo (Edgar Ramirez).
And on top of all this dishy intrigue is how it works with the movie's musical elements. Original songs are interspersed within the narrative in sometimes fantastical ways and mostly for character-development purposes. They tend to be more rhythmically abstract than showtunes, but by the end, you’ll be humming at least one rousing melody.
Saldaña gets the lion’s share of the showstoppers, including one set in a hospital and another at a gala where Rita sings about how their organization is being financed by crooks. Gomez gets jams of the dance-floor and exasperatingly raging variety, and Gascón has a few moments to shine, like the ballad that showcases her growing feelings toward Epifania (Adriana Paz), a woman who's glad when her no-good criminal husband is found dead.
Gascón is spectacular in her dual roles, under a bunch of makeup as the shadowy Manitas and positively glowing as the lively Emilia. What’s so good is she makes sure each reflects the other: While Manitas has a hint of vulnerability early on, sparks of Emilia's vengeful former self become apparent as past sins and bad decisions come back to bite multiple characters in an explosive but haphazard finale.
The stellar acting and assorted songs boost much of the familiar elements in "Emilia Pérez,” creating something inventively original and never, ever bland.
veryGood! (84)
Related
- Walmart Planned to Remove Oven Before 19-Year-Old Employee's Death
- Love Is Blind's AD Smith and Love Is Blind UK’s Ollie Sutherland Fuel Romance Rumors With Dinner Outing
- Micah Parsons injury update: When will Cowboys star pass rusher return?
- US nuclear weapon production sites violated environmental rules, federal judge decides
- Arbitrator upholds 5-year bans of Bad Bunny baseball agency leaders, cuts agent penalty to 3 years
- Californians’ crime concerns put pressure on criminal justice reform and progressive DAs
- Progressive prosecutors in Georgia faced backlash from the start. They say it’s all politics.
- School of Rock Costars Caitlin Hale and Angelo Massagli Hint at Engagement
- Lions find way to win, Bears in tough spot: Best (and worst) from NFL Week 10
- Pregnant Brittany Mahomes Shows Off Her Workout Routine
Ranking
- Judge set to rule on whether to scrap Trump’s conviction in hush money case
- Californians’ crime concerns put pressure on criminal justice reform and progressive DAs
- 'Joker 2' review: Joaquin Phoenix returns in a sweeter, not better, movie musical
- School of Rock Costars Caitlin Hale and Angelo Massagli Hint at Engagement
- Fantasy football buy low, sell high: 10 trade targets for Week 11
- Les Miles moves lawsuit over vacated LSU wins from federal to state court
- Ex-Memphis officers found guilty of witness tampering in Tyre Nichols' fatal beating
- Blue alert issued in Hall County, Texas for man suspected of injuring police officer
Recommendation
-
US wholesale inflation picks up slightly in sign that some price pressures remain elevated
-
Former county sheriff has been appointed to lead the Los Angeles police force
-
On the road: Plenty of NBA teams mixing the grind of training camp with resort life
-
Ohio girl concedes cutting off tanker that spilled chemical last year in Illinois, killing 5
-
Trump hammered Democrats on transgender issues. Now the party is at odds on a response
-
AP Week in Pictures: Global
-
Melania Trump says she supports abortion rights, putting her at odds with the GOP
-
International fiesta fills New Mexico’s sky with colorful hot air balloons