REVIEW #1: 94/100

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At long last, the motion picture event of the year has finally arrived. Announced what feels like a lifetime ago, the Lorde and Robbert Pattinson starring and Alfonso Cuaron directed musical has finally been screened. Coming two weeks after the release of it’s accompanying album, the film acts brings this era full circle, bringing us in many ways back to the origins of Lorde’s career by pushing her so far ahead of what was expected of her that she had no choice but find her way back. The film is a musical in name only, not bearing many of the hallmarks of what one would consider a musical, and it’s all the better for it. True to it’s soundtrack, it’s bold and different from it’s peers, standing out both for the artist and the filmmaker. 

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The film tells the story of Olivia, a young dancer in New York with a drug habit and multiple layers of unexplored and unconfronted sadness. While performing one evening at her place of employment, Sin City, she meets Benny and the two strike up a swift romance that results in an unplanned pregancy. What follows is a spiral out of control that eventually allows her to rise like a phoenix from the ashes. 

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The two central characters act as dramatic mirrors, different where it’s noticeable, but twins where it counts. They’re connected by their differences with him being stable and her being anything but, him being level headed and her head filled by a hurricane. But when you peel back the layers of both characters, his weaknesses are also exposed. He isn’t entirely supportive of her and her issues and doesn’t make many attempts to level with her. It’s hidden but it’s present. Though he isn’t as damaged as she is, he carries with him flaws that contribute to the collapse of their doomed romance just as much as she does. This is one of the most interesting aspects of the film as a whole. Characters in musicals are often quite black and white. There’s rarely ever more than what we see up front behind these people. But in Olivia and Benny, we find two people who love each other but are poor for each other. Their failures to confront their own issues while it mattered make them mutually detrimental, even if we’re only shown outwardly the things that Olivia does to contribute to the collapse. 

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Focusing more on Olivia, there’s a boldness about her characterization that is rarely observed in this genre. Olivia is as flawed a main character as you could possibly find. She’s drug addled, messy, inconsiderate, and is quick to defer blame from herself if it means she gets out of the situation she’s in. Eventually, she repairs most of those aspects, for most of the film she’s slipping further and further down the spiral. The choice to focus on this rather than throw her in the middle of loud distraction was a risk that could’ve resulted in a highly unlikeable protagonist in the hands of lesser creatives. But Alfonso Cuaron is quite a master of these types of characters. As far back as his star making directorial effort “Y Tu Mama Tambien”, he was presenting us with flawed leads that end up in audiences' good graces through the sheer humanity of who they are and their situation. But he does things quite differently here as he seems to have not kept Lorde on a leash whatsoever. Cuaron is not noted for being a detached director, often keeping a sharp eye on everything about his film, including his cast. It’s not often he shares a vision with another but he seems to have found a kindred spirit in his energetic lead. 

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There was apprehension from many about whether or not allowing Lorde to take the reins almost completely by hserself as an actress on her debut in the field, but she silences her naysayers through the choices she makes. At no point is Olivia overblown or unbelievable. There’s restraint in what Lorde chooses to do and it appears she’s done her research. The central mental break could’ve been laughable, but the humanity Lorde places into it makes it brutally sad. Lorde spends long stretches of the film alone, carrying the narrative on just her shoulders. She’s put through the ringer but never falters. Her turn is award worthy and she will likely find herself on the receiving end of such honors. 

Cuaron matches the subtlety by injecting directorial touches that are sometimes so quick you’d miss them, but if you pick them up, the experience enhances. Subtle changes of the aspect ratio, subtle movements of the camera around the characters rather than blocking of the actors, and the use of color to speak for the characters when words aren’t going to convey the extent of the emotion all combine together for an almost otherworldly feel to the film. His direction is tight and focused, both in terms of the shots he gets and the performances he inspires. The sex scene between Olivia and Benny is wordless but carries such weight and heft due to how he chooses to frame it and what he instructs his cast members to do. The illusion of Olivia’s death as she’s toyed with by a devil and put through her funeral is similar in the sense that while a song is telling a story, so much of the intention is left to wordless visuals. The choice of him to direct was a strong one. 

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To be a musical, it doesn’t feel much like one which is quite high praise. Musicals are often cheesy, contrived, and lose their spark at the midpoint. The biggest trap they often fall into is wasting all of their stamina on the musical passages, leaving the dialogue sections feeling like nothing more than transportation to the next musical set piece. While there’s no denying the strength of the musical sequences (notablly “Perfect Disaster” and “Tethered”), the film’s strongest moments are it’s dialogue scenes. Nowhere is this more evident than a show stopping monolgue from June, played with a beautiful simplicity and love by Michelle Pfeiffer. Moments like that transcended the screen, leaving behind a wake of turbulent emotions in the audience. 

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The film isn’t perfect, not that it was expected to be. There are characters that walk into the film for what seem to be plot convenience and this is more noticeable than perhaps the creators were aware. Hannah, Oliva’s friend at Sin City, is the best example of this. She’s present in the first act of the film but disappears without a trace following Olivia’s on stage breakdown. When Hannah is on screen, she’s a vessel for exposition and is there primarily to get Olivia’s character traits reinforced despite being laid out perfectly in the dream sequence that began the film. Hannah’s presence doesn’t dilute the film in any way, but her being as depsneible as she is to the plot as we see by her swift removal from it just shined a spotlight on what she was doing for building the plot. 

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There is also a brief sequence prior to the film’s finale that feels notably out of place. Three years after the main events of the film, Olivia and Benny have parted ways. They meet again in a diner where Olivia is working and share a brief interaction. This is where the necessity of this section ends. What follows is a brief conversation on the sidewalk on the way to the park where we get a sort of check in on where these two are now. But the issue is that the moment with them meeting again in the diner did all of that already. Their appearances were changed noticeably. Benny wore a buzzcut and moved with freedom whereas Olivia had gained some healthy weight and looked more human than she ever had. These simple visual cues told us they weren’t together anymore, they told us these two had moved on in a healthy way. But the visuals weren’t left to themselves. And it is understandable why the interaction takes place as they did need a way to get to the park and cutting there directly from the diner might not have worked. But the content of the conversation could’ve been something else. Earlier in the film, Benny suggested he and Olivia go on a date to Central Park and she has to decline because of work. Since these two eventually do end up there, a callback to that line could’ve been the conversation they had and it would’ve made the transition less awkward. 

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But that awkward transition doesn’t diminish the impact of the conclusion. The finale is grand but intimate. It continues a motif that’s used frequently in the film which is the camera moving around the characters as they remain rooted in the center of the frame. This adds to a sense of either chaos or euphoria and it does it by not telegraphing to the audience what they should feel, but allowing them to feel it themselves. This works wonderfully in the Gentlemen Prefer Blondes inspired finale, one of the strongest moments of the film.

 

Scarlet is a triumph that does everything that everyone doubted it could do. It’s subtle but explosive, it’s intimate but complex, and it’s resonant but immediate. The film is constantly toeing a line of leaning into the musical tropes and diving head on into the drama of the Oscar hopefuls. But it’s because it toes this line that it’s so remarkable and rare. It manages to have it’s cake and eat it to, getting to be a musical and a straight faced drama. The creative spirit of Lorde and Cuaron met to create sparks which will be incredibly difficult, if not impossible to replicate. The film has the makings of a classic and is already displaying that it may likely go on to be quite influential. It feels transformative and like it’s a turning point for both of the genres it wears so proudly. Lorde is a compelling lead and a dominant force whenever she’s on camera. If the rumors are to be believed and this is her last hurrah, then it cannot be said that she went out on anything less than artistic triumph and cinematic marvel.

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REVIEW #2: 90/100

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It’s not often we see artists taking a leap into the world of film. Beyond that, it’s not often we see artists taking a leap into the world of film as elegantly as Lorde. The singer has been teasing her 7th studio album, Scarlet, a project that lives in harmony with it’s film of the same name for what feels like an eternity. The album itself has seen massive success, acclaim, and has been an event the world has sat by to witness. However, the world knows that Lorde can craft a good album. Perhaps not to the level of Scarlet, but Lorde has certainly more than proved herself in that field. Where she hasn’t proved herself, however, is the world of film. And that’s what everyone was waiting desperately to see.

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The film intertwines each track from an album very naturally, something that heavily plays to the film’s advantage. The only somewhat exception to this is the first track on the album, Lost. While every other track is weaved into the storyline, feeling like an expression right from Olivia’s heart, Lost takes place in a dream sequence which immediately sets it apart from the others. That said, the sequence is perfectly crafted, there’s no denying it. Still, it does feel a little out of place as we delve into the rest of the movie.

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For the next while, the film sets on establishing Olivia’s character, as well as Michael to an extent. The whole thing is meticulously thought out, with every small detail considered so as to give off an idea about who this girl is, what she does, what she’s like. Her dialogue with Michael feels natural and showcases her personality well. Throughout the early moments of the film, Michael feels like the main character who can draw out parts of Olivia’s character for us to discover, although it unfortunately prevents us from learning a whole lot about him. Hannah is the other character Olivia tends to bounce off of, although their interactions feel much less natural and their dialogue at times can be a bit jarring.

While on-stage, Olivia is distracted by a man which prompts Hannah to question her. Perhaps most interesting about this interaction is the details we get about Olivia’s confusing, one sided relationship with Michael. It’s small, but that kind of background information doesn’t feel forced in but is very welcome! It’s revealed that the mystery man who called her is the man who caught her eye earlier. Eventually, they head out to eat prompting an awkward line about a blowjob from Olivia. Still, the actual outing is a really crucial scene I feel. Before this scene, the happiest we’ve really seen Olivia was in that dream sequence opening. Transitioning now to her meal with this man, genuinely enjoying herself, it’s clear how Olivia feels around him without feeling shoehorned in. 

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Following Olivia’s performance for the man, Benny, at the club on his birthday set to Never Met A Man (interestingly behind Michael’s back), we cut to a steamy scene between the two set to Kiss Me Once. At the end of what should be a satisfying moment for the two of them, Olivia is rather overcome with emotions as tears roll down her face. Awaking, Olivia gets up as she moves onto a dramatic and powerful scene as the title track plays. The whole thing is dramatic, cinematic and over the top but in the best way possible.

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Perhaps the biggest push forward in the story is Olivia’s surprise pregnancy as a result of her night with Benny. The situation brings a side to Olivia we haven’t seen before, one that is much more scared and uncertain. Her interactions with Benny give us a new look at her, although Benny seems surprisingly unfazed by it while Olivia grows increasingly blunt before promising to consider it. Spoiler alert, she doesn’t! Olivia skips one of her shows, which appears unusual for her, in order to get an abortion. Clearly shaken up by the situation, she returns the next night in a terrible and unfit state, causing her to give a messy performance to Sin City which ultimately leads to her getting fired. After Benny brings her home, we get to what is potentially the most uncomfortable scene in the film. The two get into a heated argument surrounding the situation, in which Olivia reveals the truth about the baby and her abortion. Tensions are high, as one might expect, but Olivia’s screams and insults towards him, calling him stupid, detailing the process… it all feels very unnatural. Some pieces of dialogue throughout so far have felt jarring but not to an extreme extent. This is the only time where it really feels like it drags down the scene as a whole.

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Following an intense two minutes watching her bang at the door set to For You, desperate to come back in, she receives a call from Michael in which he rips her to shreds, in what is possibly the most interesting thing his character has done. We then get to Do I Look Lonely, where Olivia heads to a club and links with a stranger. The concept is simple, but seeing Olivia slowly break along with her fascination with the man is a beautiful twist.

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Without a doubt the highlight of the film comes in the Perfect Disaster and Lonely (Olivia’s Lament) sections. There are very few words that can capture this scene effectively, but the entire thing is expertly crafted, elegant, engaging, impactful and certainly the peak of the movie. There’s really no fault here, the entire segment is downright stunning. Without even going into depth about all the symbolism and details hidden here, the scene is clearly a standout in Lorde’s career as a whole. As the woman in the Lonely section is revealed to be Olivia’s mother, we see Olivia at perhaps the most human she’s been yet. In her mother’s comfort, we see Olivia beginning to let go and open up, becoming less defensive and shielded than before. Her mother delivers an absolutely beautiful monologue, another highlight of the film, and is a key part in helping her daughter. Unfortunately, that’s really the only role she plays here. I wish that, instead of just appearing to help Olivia and then leaving, we’d actually get to find out more about her character. It would’ve made an already beautiful mother-daughter moment even more powerful. 

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I Want You marks Olivia’s triumphant return to the city. Many of the moments in this section feel like a call back to the Lost dream segment, which is a real signifier of her growth in the movie. She finds her way to Benny, reluctant to engage with her at first, before rushing towards her by the end of the song. After everything that happened, it feels a bit unrealistic although, for the sake of a happy ending, it feels natural. A couple exchanges of now authentic “I love you’s” later, we cut to a time jump in what may be the most unexpected twist of the film.

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The two reunite 3 years later as we discover the things didn’t work out between them, although they clearly are on solid terms. They talk, catching up with each other before Tethered begins to play. The key moment here is the final dance between them, filled with emotion and nostalgia in what feels like the perfect ending. It’s not entirely conclusive, but it doesn’t need to be. It leaves the floor open for either character to go on and do whatever they want, not tied to each other but still bound by their affection. After all the screaming and fighting, the worn out and exhausted Olivia finally finds her peace.

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Scarlet is an ambitious project to say the very least. And without a doubt, Lorde pulls it off. It may have a few questionable dialogue choices and some underdeveloped characters, sure. But it makes up for that in sheer passion and emotion. Still, at times I wish we got to learn more about some of the surrounding characters to better understand Olivia's interactions with them, especially her mother. One critique you can’t give though is that this film isn’t thought out, because it is. Lorde has meticulously thought out every single detail here to create something truly stunning. This doesn’t feel like a bunch of songs loosely connected by a story, the narrative and the songs flawlessly intertwine to create something special. Whether Lorde herself, or any artist for that matter, will be able to create something else like this again is questionable, as Scarlet is truly a one of a kind project. It’s nothing short of a mammoth, career-defining masterpiece.

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