Emilia Perez - summary of the controversy and was it a good film?

[Anonymous]

I tried to watch but turned it off after a few minutes. Why is it so polarizing?

[Anonymous]

It is an awful, awful movie. They tried making a musical but my god - the songs and music are terrible. The storyline could have had promise, but it was just so poorly done.

[Anonymous]

The controversy isn't that it's a good or bad film.

1. The trans star Karla Sofia Gascon's previous social media posts were dug out and revealed hateful anti-Muslim views as well as some attacks against the Chinese (during the pandemic) and George Floyd. She apologized but then pushed back against her critics, and overall it was felt that Netflix was unable to handle that issue well during the Oscar campaign.

2. The French director Audiard, who is well-respected in France, did not hire many Mexican actors/actresses and did not film in Mexico (maybe understandable given the cartel theme and safety around filming), and according to Mexicans, stuffed his film with cliches and cultural inaccuracies about their country.

- French viewer.

[Anonymous]

I don't understand because it just wasn't good. Also, I've read a lot about how Zoe Saldana can't sing and that her vocals are really, really filtered/processed (which is why they didn't sing her nominated song at the oscars).

[Anonymous]

It would have gotten "best picture" if the lead actor hadn't made some mean tweets.

I haven't watched it yet, but I understand that the plot is that a murderous, blood thirsty cartel leader undergoes feminizing surgeries and assumes a trans identity, and then cons their way back into the lives of the family they abandoned and destroyed. This doesn't resonate with me.

[Anonymous]

It was an okay movie. The music ranged from terrible to just okay. If they’d had a more talented team writing the music it would have been much better.
I think part of the controversy is that many people feel that it got too much buzz because people didn’t want to criticize a movie about a trans woman —- until it turned out the trans woman was a little racist. So part of the controversy is about whether the Hollywood community is too cowed by a desire to prove their lprogressive bona fides.

[Anonymous]

Separate from the racism controversy, from what I've read it seems like the emperor's new clothes: no one wanted to be the one to criticize the movie.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It was an okay movie. The music ranged from terrible to just okay. If they’d had a more talented team writing the music it would have been much better.
I think part of the controversy is that many people feel that it got too much buzz because people didn’t want to criticize a movie about a trans woman —- until it turned out the trans woman was a little racist. So part of the controversy is about whether the Hollywood community is too cowed by a desire to prove their lprogressive bona fides.

It's also not popular with the trans community, it's bad representation and not particularly accurate to the experience.