Vox Lux is a 2018 music biopic/drama about a pop singer looking to make a comeback with a brand new tour after years of mishaps in the media.
I know nothing about pop music and even less about the lives of pop singers. I just know whatever I see on the tabloids and it doesn’t matter if it’s true or false. Facts really don’t matter much in today’s instant media climate, just as long as you can make it exciting. I can see that director Brady Corbet wanted to tell a story about how the media treats a violent tragedy and the downfall of a pop star the same way. It’s all just spectacle and higher ratings to them. I just wish the story was better constructed.
Before I dive into this a little bit more, I should warn you that the next few paragraphs will have SPOILERS.
After a fatal high school shooting, 16-year-old Celeste (Raffey Cassidy), with the help of her sister Eleanor (Stacy Martin), write a song about her experience that becomes a massive hit. She gets a manager (Jude Law) and some publicists and becomes one of the biggest pop stars ever. After several years of being in the public eye after one controversy to the next, Celeste (now played by Natalie Portman at 35) is back to start a brand new tour with her daughter (Cassidy), manager, and sister Elle along with her.
After Celeste recorded her first song, I felt that her rise in fame went pretty fast. I felt the same way after watching A Star is Born, too, but at least in this one it wasn’t a Youtube clip that made her famous. It just seemed that she found a manager and publicist after writing one song pretty quick, and once she started to gain fame and fortune, her downfall was just as fast. Celeste became like every other celebrity tabloid that I read about and I was slightly disappointed that the movie never seemed to explain more on why she became like this.
I’m fine with characters who fall and keep falling but I want to be invested with them more, and I wasn’t fully with Celeste. At first she is this brave girl who survived this horrific tragedy. After recording some songs, she’s into hard drugs all of a sudden and than BAMM. She is front page news injuring some guy with her car. I mean is that the rule, get famous, and become an addict. Why does every biopic out there have a moment where the lead singer has a drug binge? The only difference is that this person never gets clean. I guess that does make it stand out from other movies about musicians but I’m not so sure that’s a good thing.
I did like some of the style. Having the majority of the end credits show up at the start rather than the end was a nice little touch. I haven’t seen that since Beyond The Valley of the Dolls (which also involves a band who changes after they become famous, too). I also liked the use of Willem Dafoe as the narrator because it makes it feel like a real documentary about this performer’s life, though I never understood why it was needed. The same thing goes for the chapter stops and casting Cassidy as both young Celeste and her daughter. Why didn’t Martin get someone to play her younger self and why couldn’t Natalie play both roles. Have you seen Black Swan? I’m sure she could easily play an older teen.
I have nothing but respect for Portman. Think of the diversity in a few of her latest films alone: Jackie, Annihilation, and now Vox Lux. Three completely different performances and three very different movies. Celeste is an interesting character, but honestly I kinda wish she was doing her rap persona in those SNL digital shorts instead.