ANDMILIA PÉREZ
Type: family-transgender musical
Direction: Jacques Audiard. With Karla Sofía Gascón, Zoe Saldaña, Selena Gomez, Adriana Paz, Edgar Ramírez, Mark Ivanir, Eduardo Aladro, Emiliano Hasan, Magali Brito, Sébastien Fruit, Alejandra Reyes, James Gerard
It already seemed risky to want to tell the story of a Mexican drug boss in a musical, but imagine that that boss at Manitas wants to become Emilia, with a real sex changecould have seemed like an impossible gamble.
And yet Jacques Audiard succeeded perfectly, too thanks to the skill of Karla Sofía Gascón (formerly Carlos Gascón in life: it is always she who, bearded and with a graver voice, plays Manitas in the first scenes) and a cast that puts women in the front row: the lawyer Zoe Saldaña and her wife (who thinks she is a widow) Selena Gomez.
From left, Karla Sofía Gascón and Adriana Paz in the film “Emilia Pérez” (© Netflix).
With them and with the help of the music of Camille and Clément Ducol and the choreographer Damiel Jalet, the direction knows how to surprise with numbers that do not “detach” from the narrative but they use music to give rhythm to the dialogues while the choreographic movements transform the bodies into living scenography: in this way the impression is that of an entire world that comes alive to the rhythm of the notes and gains strength transforming the jokes into songs and the actions into dances.
With a surprising effect, which cinema enhances and magnifies, and gives the spectator an unprecedented and enthralling experience.
For those who want to be surprised by a truly out of the ordinary film.
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