Vox Lux

Sometimes I watch a movie I know next to nothing about in advance, as was this case (I relied on it being described as "something about singing starring Natalie Portman”). So, from the start, I wasn’t really sure if I had made the right decision as I was completely unprepared for such a psycho opening. Afterwards, the plot progressed as expected, but overall, I am not sure what kind of film it was supposed to be. The first part is about a school shooting and dealing with the consequences, the second part focuses on the making of a pop star, the third part captures the effects of fame on the main character and those around her, and the conclusion is strictly focused on one particular concert. The problem is that it all gets done only halfway, none of it feels finished and every aspect seems kind of half-baked. And Dafoe in the role of a narrator seems downright redundant as if from another movie. In fact, everything about it is rather strange, which was predictable from the trailers, and which is also why it was such a flop in the theaters. (17.09.2019)

With a bit of luck, I was expecting an artistic Teen Spirit or possibly a more rebellious A Star is Born, but I definitely did not expect an elusive mishmash of genres that only reaches its own premise in the last fifteen minutes. The dramatic introduction is thrown off without future justification, the omitted parts of the story are exactly what I would have liked to see the most, and although Raffey Cassidy and Natalie Portman fully embraced their main characters, I rarely empathized with them. Four plotlines, with only one of them fully explained. I understand what Brady Corbet was going for, but I feel like he threw a juicy morsel on the ground and then told me to go pick it up myself. (27.07.2020)

The first half of the film, from the shocking introduction to the making of the music video, is amazing. The second half is a little weaker, but it’s certainly not Natalie Portman's fault. I think the film is primarily missing a point - some proper final thought, something shocking in the style of the opening scene, which promises a narrator with Willem Dafoe's voice, but unfortunately, we don't get that. It's a shame, but I still put the director (and screenwriter) on my list of those I definitely want to see something else from. (03.01.2021)

From the beginning it’s clear that the creators were trying to be original here. Already in the opening credits, they serve you a scene the tension of which will unsettle everyone who has begun to enjoy this movie. At this moment it’s clear that we’re in for some weird filmmaking. In the end, however, it wasn’t that weird; the movie just seemed kind of undecided about what exactly it was going to be. It did have a few interesting ideas, one of those being the music by Sia. Her touch is clear from the music and even though it’s not my usual cup of tea, within the pop genre it’s definitely not bad. The premise, however, is worse, and the worst part is Natalia Portman. She looked good on the poster, but her performance wasn’t much. She only appears in the second half of the movie, where she plays the adult version of the main character, but that’s enough for me to feel repulsion against her, or rather her character. I was also puzzled by the fact that the young girl first played the main character and then the sister of the adult version of her original character. Vox Lux is full of moments I don’t understand, and I don’t know whether it’s sloppiness or some kind of art out of the scope of my understanding. It’s, however, enough for three stars. (27.01.2020)