Jonah Hill. Paul Dano. Bradley Cooper. And now Brady Corbet. Actors I love who made their directorial debuts this year. Sure, Corbet isn’t as renowned (and I mostly just love him because of Funny Games), but I’ve still kept an eye out for him.
The film opens with a school shooting, so um, yeah trigger warning like whoa. It’s pretty intense. We follow Celeste, a victim and survivor. Her singing at a memorial service launches her into superstardom. We see her start, then jump forward to the future where she’s now played by Natalie Portman and is the biggest pop star in the world.
I kinda liked it. I think Corbet’s got a lot of potential as a director. He had Willem Dafoe narrating the film, and it gave me flashes of Magnolia (one of my all time favorites). It also felt like he was trying to frame it to feel like a play (including some really long tracking shots–again reminiscent of PT Anderson), and he threw in a bunch of other artistic flourishes I liked. But it also felt like he held back. I’d have loved to see him go full artsy, because I think he’s got the eye to pull it off without being inaccessible.
And I absolutely loved Natalie Portman. Have we ever seen her this edgy post The Professional? I went in to this pretty cold, without having seen any trailers, and was completely blown away by what she did. I want more of this.
Vox Lux – \m/ \m/ \m/