Vox Lux

Vox Lux is a 2018 film directed by Brady Corbet. This movie has a power house cast starring Natalie Portman, Jude Law and Raffey Cassidy. Vox Lux is very brave film that asks the audience many difficult and uncomfortable questions that often go unanswered. This film will not be for everyone because of how unique and artsy it is. Personally I really appreciate films like this because we rarely get one that breaks the mold as much as this one.

Vox Lux follows a girl named Celeste (Natalie Portman) who comes to fame at a very young age. As Celeste ages she becomes more and more sucked into this celebrity world. It hits close to home for many because we see it happen in the real world all the time. So many people are not ready for fame and they turn to things like drugs and alcohol to cope. This film really makes celebrities look like humans and how it's not all sunshine and rainbows for them.

This might be Natalie Portman's best performance besides Black Swan. Portman really sells the fact that Celeste is in great pain even if she doesn't say it verbally. The character of Celeste does not want anyone to see or know how she really feels but everyone can see it anyway. The dressing room scene towards the end is where Portman really shows off her acting skills as Celeste finally breaks down. For me it is the most powerful and raw scene in the entire film.

Many viewers will compare this to A star is born which is not fair because they are very different films. The only similarity is that they both have troubled music artists. Vox Lux is one of my favorite movies of 2018 but I still had a few problems with this. I felt like the film should have been about 45 minutes longer and shown us more of Celeste as a teenager. Instead they just tell us things that happened instead of showing us which was less impactful. The narration by Willem Dafoe sometimes works and other times is not needed. Overall though I very much enjoyed Vox Lux and it is another shining spot on Portman's resume.

Vox Lux
Written and Directed by Brady Corbet
Produced by Christine Vachon, D.J. Gugenheim, Brian Young, Michel Litvak, Andrew Lauren
Story by Brady Corbet, Mona Fastvold
Starring Natalie Portman, Jude Law, Stacy Martin, Jennifer Ehle, Raffey Cassidy
Music by Scott Walker
Cinematography : Lol Crawley
Edited by Matthew Hannam
Production companies : Killer Films, Andrew Lauren Productions, Bold Films
Distributed by Neon
Release date : September 4, 2018 (Venice), December 7, 2018 (United States)
Running time : 110 minutes

Watched on DVD in Tonawanda NY on Wednesday March 6th

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