'Vox Lux' Mini Review (America Personified?)

Vox Lux is admittedly a tough film to digest. It’s been a few days since I’ve seen it but I still struggle to comprehend the nuance of the film. As I attempt to look over the film from different angles I keep finding dead ends and needless to say, herein lies the problem. It isn’t that Vox Lux isn’t clear in what it’s trying to articulate. Rather it doesn’t go any deeper than stating what it’s concepts. Or, it could be I didn’t quite pick up on them.

The second film from actor turned director, Brad Corbet, follows the rise of pop star Celeste Montgomery who makes her breakout after writing a song after she survived a school shooting. The school shooting actually opens the film. It’s a start that’s the equivalent of being slapped in the face. It’s obviously meant to shock the audience but it’s also the first connection to a greater theme throughout the film. Albeit this connection is only realised in retrospective. As Celeste’s pop career moves forward she gets a manager who never receives a name and she grows closer to her older sister.

The movie is split into two distinct halves. The first as Celeste’s career is starting and she is portrayed by Raffey Cassidy (Killing of the Sacred Deer). The second is just after she’s released her sixth studio album and she’s played by Natalie Portman (Black Swan). The timeframe of her career lines up with several major incidents, in particular, 9/11. Along with this, the school shooting, and another mass shooting that happens later in the film, one most certainly gets a sense that the ambition here is to tie to the USA’s political climate. In the Portman half of the film, Celeste has become more self-aware of her strengths and flaws. She is apologetic for her flaws but as the old saying goes “sorry doesn’t mean anything”. Is her arc meant to be an embodiment of America being a romanticised country full of success (aka The American Dream) and becoming one that systematic defects? I find it hard to believe that this happened with the time frame presented here.

Outside of the confusing presentation, the way it’s dressed up is noteworthy. More precisely the cinematography by Lol Crawley. The strong attention to framing brings details out of a scene that would’ve been left out if shot in a more conventional manner (like the very conventional Bohemian Rhapsody). The performance of Natalie Portman got a bit of attention during the Oscar season but Jude Law deserved some love too. Both manage to blend into the environment and react off each other really well.

With the movie never having an end goal in sight for what it’s trying to say and narrative wise Vox Lux isn’t a film to avoid but you need to be curious enough to want to see it.

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