Where & When: AFI Film Festival, TCL Chinese 6 Theatres, November 13, 2018 12:00 PM
Brady Corbet is better known as an actor, appearing in such films as "Thirteen", "Mysterious Skin", "Force Majeure" and most notably as one half of two sadistic boys who terrorize a family in Michael Haneke's American-set remake of his disturbing 1997 Austrian psychological thriller, "Funny Games". But I was not aware that he had recently moved behind the camera, first with "The Childhood of a Leader" in 2015, a dark indie, coming-of-age tale set in post-WW I Europe that was loosely based on a short-story by Jean-Paul Sartre. Corbet ambitiously filmed English and French language versions and the offbeat feature went on to win two awards, Best Debut film and Best Director, at the 2015 Venice Film Festival.
With his follow-up feature, "Vox Lux", Corbet has dipped his toe further in to conventional storytelling even utilizing big-name actors to fill roles. Yet it's clear that he's not fully invested in to traveling down the well-worn path of traditional narrative film making. Corbet presents intriguing ideas on our troubling obsession with guns, social media and celebrity culture seen through the world of popular music. And while this drama is told with plenty of visual style and wit, it is not always clear on exactly what the filmmaker is trying to say.
Our story begins in the last year of the 1990's with Celeste (Raffey Cassidy), an average Staten Island teenager who is part of her high-school's choir. One day during class, a horrific event occurs, which is sadly actually happening far too often in this country, when a fellow student opens fire on the school. Celeste is badly injured but survives unlike tragically some of her other classmates.
During her recovery, Celeste works on a song with her older sister, Ellie (Stacy Martin) and they perform it during a memorial service to honor the fallen students. A clip of Celeste singing is posted on social media and goes viral, drawing a lot of attention to her. A slick and handsome, unnamed fellow (Jude Law) approaches the sisters, offering them an opportunity to take this sudden awareness to the next level with a professional music career. With him as the manager and Ellie as the creative engine, Celeste begins the hard work involved in trying to become a pop star as we watch her going to recording sessions and dance routine rehearsals.
We soon move in to present day with an adult Celeste, now played by Natalie Portman. She is still enjoying the success she has achieved as a major pop sensation yet the pressures of fame has taken it's toll on her. Unstable and temperamental, Celeste has become very hard to handle. Her relationship with Ellie has become estranged and while the manager is still around, their partnership has shifted to an unhealthy, co-dependent situation. And Celeste has a teenage daughter, Albertine (played by Ms Cassidy) but she is unable to focus on being a suitable mother to her child.
As Celeste is preparing for a large-scale, homecoming concert, a terrorist attack occurs in Europe which seems inspired by one of her music videos. While her publicist (Jennifer Ehle) tries to help handle the media, Celeste begins to further unravel as this terrible event triggers the memory of the similar incident that occurred during her childhood.
With only his second feature, I think Mr. Corbet is shaping up to be a bold and provocative filmmaker. In "Vox Lux", he explores how we come together during a time of tragedy, to mourn the loss and demand that we must change as a society. Yet time passes and these tragic events are often repeated by another generation. Celeste is our eyewitness to the cultural pattern in this story and we experience these troubling circumstances through her. But Mr Corbet's script brings many compelling and quirky ideas together in a way that manages to be charming and confounding. The addition of a few comic slapstick bits and an impassive narration provided by Willem Dafoe only manages to distract further.
And that leads me to the appearance of Ms Portman. There are two glaring problems with her performance; the actress does not seem to be playing the same shy, soft-spoken character we saw earlier, particularly with the addition of a loud, heavy New York accent. And although she is hilarious and furiously over-the-top, Portman's Celeste seems to belong in a completely different movie, like some rock & roll satire.
"Vox Lux" ends simply with the concert; a modern pop music spectacle with an elaborate stage-set, sparkling back-up dancers and Portman centerstage, in a shiny catsuit, actually singing songs written by real-life pop star, Sia. We are left to wonder what will become of Celeste, her sister and daughter or even the manager. I wasn't looking for all loose ends to be tied up or a happily ever after. But I was expecting more of a sense of closure and a better understanding of the underlying message of the film. "Vox Lux" begins to offer plenty of interesting theories and observations yet none of them ever feels well thought out.
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