Emilia Perez Movie Review with Brian & Ryan!

hi it's Brian welcome to the awards Contender and it's not just me this time look who's here it's Ryan Castleman how are we doing Ryan doing great Brian how are you doing doing well we are as of this recording on our kind of last day here we're reaching the end just a few screenings left how are we feeling about Tiff right now exhausted very tired very tired I have like a Full Slate of movies today I'm just trying to get through it trying to push through but yeah it's a lot of fun yeah we wanted to do at least one collaboration talking about a movie that has been playing the festival that's going to be a big Awards Contender I do believe and that's Amelia Perez directed by Jac aard oudard Ed Ard uh Jac Ard Jac odr o yeah this is an interesting movie a genre hybrid that we've really never gotten before right like how would you describe Amelia Perez like just in terms of it genre work I would describe it like somewhat uh of a Pedro almadovar film but not really it's kind of like if Alejandra Gonzalez in yitu and Bas lurman had to make a movie together okay they were forced at gunpoint to collaborate co-direct a movie and they both wrote the script yeah and then they passed the script to Pedro doar and he put his little touches in it yeah so this film premiered at the can film festival in May it won the best actress prize for all four of the main actors I believe either the main three or all four I think the Ensemble it also won like the grand jury prize like this was one of the big hits I would say at can so I've been hearing about it all summer long into uh the fall festivals it just played at tell you ride and it played here at Toronto so obviously we had to see this one we weren't going to skip Amelia Perez right no not a chance I could skip that one so I went into this with high expectations and coming out I was scratching my head a little bit but mostly in a good way I was really taken with the vision of this movie it's very ambitious and it's unlike anything I've seen before I don't think all of it works there were a few elements of the narrative I found confusing at times and I was like wait what does she want here what wait what is this relationship again I do feel like Amelia Perez will work better on a second viewing now that I know what the movie is all about and how it Blends all of these genres I was just so kind of taken with the ambition of the story and the surprises in the narrative and those really really fantastic performances yeah yeah I think when I initially came in uh to the film I've watched the trailer and for some reason the trailer wasn't like giving me Oscars for that for some reason but I uh I came in with high expectations as well I've heard a lot of people about it this is a movie also I've realized when people love it they actually I found they really really really love it um so there's a lot of passion behind this movie so I was interested and in the very beginning of the film it started and I was like wow I'm going to really love this movie everything was working for me I guess as the story evolved it just didn't evolve in a way that I thought was very highly original so I just kind of watched him like okay this is a fun time but I guess it's kind of spinning its Wheels a little bit so that's that's kind of how I felt I I still enjoyed myself I still felt it was fun but I guess I didn't walk away going that was amazing yeah I did not walk out of the theater with my mind blown like oh this is one of the top top three films of the festival this is going to be a huge Oscar Contender it's going to win a bunch of things like I walked out liking the movie admiring it it didn't ever fully engage me on an emotional level and that is something that you know I do take seriously especially in a film that's going to have like songs in it that's got all of these unique relationships and some truly dark story turns at the end like I I didn't expect we won't give it away but I mean I didn't expect this movie to end with like everybody happy and everyone's like joyful but what happens in the last 10 minutes of this movie I was kind of shocked I was like oh geez like we are going dark and disturbing and very unexpected here yeah yeah I I didn't love the direction it took us in in the in the last part it felt like it was turning into a Taken movie and it sort a little bit of taken at the end but um yeah it it's an interesting movie like you said I think the the highlight of the movie are the performances I think the songs actually were quite good I enjoyed a lot of the songs yeah not not all of the songs are great but I would say three or four of them I was definitely vibing to the moment anything to do with music in this film with Zoe Sana yeah like her dance moves her singing like have we seen her sing in a movie I've never seen her sing in a movie like I was thinking I was like has she done a musical before nothing came to mind and she is Rock Solid in this film Zoe saw an would be an inspired Oscar nomination for best supporting actress she's got some wonderful moments in this I do think it might be her best performance in the movies like I was really taken with her it it might be category fraud but I don't care category fraud no there's like chunks of the movie she's not in she's not the lead of fil not the lead you think so so yeah Zoe Sana is great in this now let's talk about Carla Sophia gascon who has gotten rave reviews since k i have seen her name pop up on lists that say she is definitely getting into lead actress for Amelia Perez what do you think I actually think she will I do think she will I actually think she was very strong uh in the film well first I don't know if people know what this story is even about um I'm not going to give away let's talk about the story let's say a little bit about what it's about yeah so a little setup basically it's about a Naros um drug cartel leader who is basically undergoing a sex change operation so he kind of brings in Zoe to s to help kind of transfer over his assets and start his new life to basically abandon his family and yeah I think she embodied the cartel leader really well and I think that moving forward in the story I think that she has a lot of great moments in the film yeah yeah she's got some fiery scenes toward the end there's this one moment with Selena Gomez where they both go off on each other gasone is mesmerizing in this moment my jaw was hanging I was like oh like this this is something else like I felt like this character she is such a rich and integral part of the narrative like if she can just have a couple really memorable Great Moments she could totally get in to the Oscars she has such a narrative and it's such a fascinating character and performance she does have enough in this movie I would say that it can happen for her that was the moment I was kind of looking for uh to see like is she going to get in and then that kind of moment happened like yeah she can get in it was exactly the the moment you're describ driving well I noticed that we haven't mentioned Selena Gomez does she she not pop up I I I I we're not going to get like a lot of hate comments right if we say that Selena Gomez I don't think is going to get an Oscar nomination for this so either she's good like she's very good in this she it's not a bad performance it's just not at the level I would say of Zoe Alana and Carla Sophia gason I think those are the two acting Oscar nominations I'll be honest too I really don't I don't think the movie gives Selena Gomez a character that she can really make something with I think the character is a little weak in how it's written in in my opinion I think the arc isn't isn't really incredibly strong and she's fine she's good enough like she doesn't bring the movie down I think she has some nice moments throughout I think she has one of the worst numbers in it too and it's not her fault yeah her musical number is a little weird it's not it's not as good as as like Zoe sana's numbers uh gascon doesn't get much to do with like her voice in the movie what was there one maybe two maybe one or two songs with her gon's musical moments are much quieter kind of reflective she's not doing the big dance numbers like Selana does um and those are effective yeah but yeah Gomez gets like one big number and it's not one of the better ones in the movie yeah Zoe zadon has a really good number in the middle of the movie or near the towards the end of the movie where she's like on the table that well I was going to say because it's in the trailer yes oh okay good um there's I feel like that song had a sense of Showmanship that I felt like I could have used a lot more of uh from the other numbers the scenes in the numbers are kind of very similar in a sense style-wise and I don't know if there was enough like style put into it to really separate kind of oh okay like you wanted a little bit more Style with the musical numbers like some I feel like what three of them I want to say are very styl and the camera's whipping around and A lot's happening and the dance and then there's some that are very just kind of quiet and sometimes those are good too my big criticism of the musical numbers was that the movie opens with two maybe three pretty big ones and the opening half hour and then there's like long stretches of the film without any musical numbers right right and not to say that it had to be like every 10 minutes we need them to break into song that's not what this movie is but I there were moments where I was like it's been a while if you're going to have that be an element of the movie it should be in a little bit more I do think Amilia Perez needed like two more big numbers at some point because there are stretches without anything it obviously explores you know the the experience of being transgender it does that very effectively I enjoyed all the songs about that as well this movie could have been about a lot of things and that it takes the time to really develop her as a character and give her a lot of like Rich detail in terms of like her emotional well-being her mental well-being it's a very uh fully realized character it makes sense that that's the title of the film CU you really do leave the theater thinking about the journey that she took yeah there's another actress in it Adriana P I thought she was quite good in the small role that she had as well um she plays a woman who is basically her husband was killed by this you know a cartel and uh but she doesn't care it's like her husband was abusive anyways but yeah I I thought she did a really good job with her small part yeah she's pretty good she doesn't have a lot to do in the movie but she's effective in her moments I thought Edgar Ramirez was kind of wasted in the film he's not in very much he plays like Selena Gomez's new flame and he plays an important role at the ends but like outside of that introductory scene to him where they're like singing and dancing that goes on for a while that was kind of fun you don't see much of Ramirez in this like that's not a supporting actor bid like he's he's only in maybe 5 to 10 minutes yeah have we mentioned that this whole movie almost the entire movie is in Spanish like 99% of it occasionally like in a moment of intense dialogue like Selena Gomez like they'll say one thing in English and then it'll go back to Spanish like like it's it's it's like 1% in English but it's mostly like this is an International Film I don't know if this is like will this be a bid for international feature at the Oscars I feel like it could be right okay so I'm going to be bold and I'm going to make a prediction right here I'm making a prediction my prediction my prediction is that I don't think France is going to choose this I think it's doing the same thing anatomy of a fall it's doing the same thing I think that's just my prediction because a lot of people say oh you know the France they learn their lesson they're going to choose Amelia Perez and honestly why would we assume they're going to learn their lesson we all knew that anomy of fall was probably better than Taste of things that's what it was called right Taste of things yeah um but they picked Taste of things because it represented their country better in their mind and this is going to be all in Spanish and I don't know if the movie screams France so why yeah why would France pick this to be their movie if it's like all in Spanish I'm just going to say I don't think they will huh do you think this is going to be an Oscar contender in a variety of categories do you think it'll underperform overperform H you know it's very odd because I originally had this outside of my 10 and h i saw the movie and I don't think watching the movie usually watching the movie really gives you clarification of whether something's going to get nominated or not for me usually it's like spot like oh I know you know pretty soon like oh this is going to be like for me like conclave I had a couple issues with it as I'll talk about but I halfway through I was like oh this is a movie awards voters are going to oh yeah especially older voters right they're going to eat it up this movie does Drive passion but I don't know if it's driving Passion of the memb or driving passion within just kind of a niche Film Community or driving passion with just Selena Gomez fans I'm not sure but there is a lot of passion for the film I just don't know if that if that transfers over to specific Oscar Academy member groups right now I think it's in but I would put it like at the very bottom yeah right now I think this will get at least two or three Golden Globe nominations it probably gets into sag ensemble and I just feel like there are narratives to this movie there is going to be a lot of passion and enthusiasm for this from some some might not like it very much I've already seen a few takes that were just like no this did not work for me at all but I do think there's going to be enough people who love this that even if Amilia Perez does not overperform on Oscar nominations morning I could see it at bare minimum getting into best picture best actress for guson and maybe screenplay maybe one or two texts maybe sounds I think Zoe Sana could get into supporting actress I think that looks good too like right now the supporting categories are a freefor all there hasn't been much even after having seen a bunch of movies at Tiff the last few days like lead actress lead actor there's definitely some big contenders that I'm thinking about the supporting categories are kind of wide open yeah so I think if Amelia Perez can break into award season in a sign ific way Zoe Sana can get that Oscar nomination in supporting actress it would be her first Oscar nomination and we got to remember this is Netflix's big push this is their big one and they're going to they're going to put everything behind it so they're going to market the hell out of it Maestro was kind of I would say sinking last year and it didn't matter they got a bunch of nominations um come Oscar morning um because Netflix was pushing it so yeah this is going to be their big one and a lot of people say I mean Netflix is not going to not have a film in best picture so that gives me a little bit more of a reason to put it up there but I would not be shocked if this missed I would not be shocked like you think that Amelia Perez could underperform to the extent where it gets zero Oscar nominations or maybe it gets like one for gasone or something big there but it doesn't really do well that's exactly right maybe Zoe sodon cuz you said that category is pretty open yeah um yeah pulls an August oage County and only gets lead actress and supporting actress and that's it yeah I think it sounds right no but I I do think it's probably going to get in because I I do think there is an audience for this um it might not be the entire Academy but I think there are some who will really respond to this film do you think this movie could be such a sensation that it could take on like even like a Slum Dog Millionaire type of thing or no where it like win's best picture yeah no no no not going to win best picture no I think like if this movie can get into best pict picture of the Oscars it'll be in like eighth place Ninth Place it's not going to be in like the top three I lucky to be nominated yeah I think it's going to get into best picture with 10 if it was only five I'd say probably not but like with 10 I think this film is so audacious so original it's doing some really interesting things even if everybody doesn't love it I could see it making the top 10 for sure at the OS I'm sure it's going to have a lot of original song nominations just that alone yeah so yeah getting into some yeah we have even mention like original song will probably be a factor here maybe it could win for one of the songs in this movie like there's a bunch of them I don't know which one they will pick probably Zoe sadon isn't yeah yeah so if I had to predict right now I think at the Oscars Amelia Perez gets into picture it gets into actress for gascon it gets into supporting actress for Sana probably screenplay song and maybe one other Tech like maybe editing or something I could see this film getting between five to seven Oscar nominations I'd say the same take out screenplay and that's that that's what I agree with you don't think I can get into screenplay no why not I don't know cuz I don't think the story is that good okay so you have some issues with the screenplay I just feel like the originality of the piece oh yeah could maybe get it in you're right you're right you're right I don't think it could win that anywhere but like to get the nomination I would assume no you're right cuz I always forget the original screenplay my thinking is always what's original of the year that's what's going in it's not about about the writing what's the most original of the year that's going in and you're right it's a very original movie or at least feels very original so yeah I could see that so what are your final thoughts on Amelia Perez like if you had to give it a rating like a like between 1 and 10 like what would be your rating yeah so Amelia Perez it started on a real high for me but then it kind of just started kind of going down a little bit for me but still it was thoroughly entertaining I don't think the the movie really has a ton of substance um but I think it puts on a good show but doesn't have an entirely a lot of substance but it was very very fun uh nonetheless I wasn't bored for the entire thing no you're never bored in the film there's enough going on with all of the different narrative threads uh it's always pretty interesting yeah I I kind of felt like in the beginning they showed you an amazing magic trick and you're like wao I am hooked and then the magician showed you seven or eight more very similar tricks and your kind of not as impressed that's kind of how I felt watching ailia PR but I still had fun it was still a magic trick so I'm going to go with a seven out of 10 I am also going to go with a seven I think that's the right rating for this six just feels too low to me I feel like there's enough good things in the movie but eight I feel like the movie had to emotionally engage me a little bit more especially in the second half for me to go to an eight so I am also giving a million Perez a s out of 10 yeah I mean you can't go lower than than seven because Selena Gomez fans might be watching and I like my life I like living we don't want to get hate from the Selena Gomez fans no no no she's good in the movie she's good in the movie she's good she's good she's good thanks so much for being here Ryan can you tell our viewers where they can find you online they can find me at Ryan Castleman on YouTube he's got a YouTube channel I got a YouTube channel he also talks about the Oscars I do so go watch it it's fun check it out yeah thanks so much for watching and subscribing and I'll be back with many more reviews from the Toronto Film Festival we will see you next time at the award why' you move that I was thinking of doing this or something like that but I realized there's nothing really on here that's it's