Review of Vox Lux (2018) by Frankrog29 — 23 Jun 2019

Vox Lux's grandiose cinematography, score, and voice-over narration imply that the movie is profound, but, much like the pop music it features, it is rather dull and insipid. Natalie Portman and Jude Law are good actors but they can't make the movie's shallow screenplay compelling.

Also, I just wasn't convinced of Ms. Portman as a pop star, especially in the concert scene at the end, in which she is just wandering through the dance moves with no conviction. Some scenes are just awful, such as young Celeste whispering about her dream inaudibly on a hotel bed or the fight between Celeste and the restaurant manager, which is over so quickly that it barely registers.

The movie does have a point to make about the superficiality of pop culture and society's exaltation of vapid, corrupt, even psychotic people (e.g., mass shooters) in the media. However, by two-thirds of the way through, the movie has already made this point, and the rest of the film just seems meandering and pointless as a result.

Ultimately, the screenplay and direction just aren't effective enough to make this film as profound as it seems to want to be.