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Glorious. Enchanting. Defying all expectations.
Yes. Wicked is everything fans wanted and more. I don't believe I have to tell anyone in detail what the film is about. In 25 words or less, it takes the Broadway experience of Wicked, the musical, and puts it on the big screen. The film is part one of a two-part gift to lovers of the entire Wizard of Oz/Wicked oeuvre. The original by L. Frank Baum, the B/W movie original, the novel by Gregory Maguire and the Stephen Schwartz musical are all part and parcel of this eye-and-ear candy treat.
Part one concludes with Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) seated on her broom, making ready to take the Wizard (Jeff Goldblum) to task for his lies and evil deeds he's perpetuated for years in the Emerald City. BTW, if you don't know, Wicked's timeline predates the arrival of Dorothy in Oz and her walk down the yellow brick road. The road is there, just without the Lion, the Tinman and the Scarecrow.
So I'd like to sprinkle some magic dust here and talk about some Easter Eggs in Wicked that you may not be aware of, as well as explore the atrociously blatant racism and body shaming that is going on in social media about the stars.
Where did the name Elphaba come from? L. Frank Baum. L-F-B. It's phonetic. The sound of letter "L", then the sound of "F", then one of the sounds of "B". I watched that on a Youtube video. The amusing words that the Shiz U. Students use that sound sort of like real words, but aren't, such as the word for "glitch". At Shiz, it's not a glitch, it's a "Gulch". Yes. As in Miss Gulch, the nasty, dog-hating, bicycle-riding neighbor of Aunt Em, Uncle Henry and Dorothy Gale in Kansas. The buckets of water thrown by a young child at the start of the film. Poppies and napping. I'm sure there are more, but frankly, I was too engrossed in Wicked to catch all of them.
The singing by Galinda (Ariana Grande) and Elphaba was all recorded live. As they're being spun hither and yon, dancing and flying... they are singing and it's being recorded. They didn't go back and dub it in. Why? According to both Director Jon M. Chu and the women themselves, they wanted to pay respects to the original Wicked women (Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth) who did it every day and twice on Sundays. Broadway, live. For years. And for every actress who does it on every stage, live, across the world.
Speaking of the originals, Erivo and Grande were most definitely channeling Chenoweth and Menzel. You could hear it. You could feel it. Yes, they put their own twist on them, but still. The emotion is still there, with the tap on full blast. And the originals, yes, are in Wicked.
What I really appreciated about Chu's Wicked is the way in which it expands upon Schwartz's original. You have time to learn more about the other characters and enjoy the addition of new ones. New characters such as Pfannee (Bowen Yang) and Shenshen (Bronwyn James) who were added in. Their snide back-and-forth trashtalking is hysterical. Giving a stronger love story to Nessarose (Marissa Bode) and Boq (Ethan Slater). Highlighting the way in which Fiyero (Jonathan Bailey) is drawn to both Galinda and Elphaba, for different reasons.
When you're watching the musical, which I've seen multiple times, there's so much going on on-stage, sometimes it's hard to catch all that's happening. I mean, they're pushing everything into 2 hours and 45 minutes. With two Wicked movies, the characters can breathe. Peter Dinklage's Dr. Dillamond, the professorial goat. I can't even remember his scenes in the show. But here - he's fully fleshed out and I'm sure there will be more to come from him in part two. Ever wonder how the monkeys got their wings? It's here, in Wicked. Sets the size of football fields and minimal CG. In Norfolk England, Chu and Production Designer Nathan Crowley created entire fields of real tulips set in color blocked rows that lead to Munchkinland. Nine Million Tulips.
And let's not forget the Wizard and Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh). Their plot to control the Emerald City for eternity is so much clearer here than in the show. And you can tell they had so much fun in their roles. Once the curtain is pulled back from their friendly exteriors and you see their evil interiors, they embody the actual Wickedness of Oz. And the costumes. Oh my lord, the costumes, designed by Paul Tazewell. A delicious fantasy. I expect the costumes to one day reside at the Met's Costume Institute. You get a French kiss!
Turning now to the racism and body shaming that is running rampant on social media. To those who are tearing their clothes in grief over casting, heaven help us, a black woman as Elphaba, well, you missed the entire point of Wicked. A film about acceptance. About diversity. About growth. About pushing the boundaries of what people see and becoming more. And you're ruining it for any child who listens to you. You never heard of Erivo? Too bad for you. She already has a vast musical theater background, starring in the Broadway revival of The Color Purple for two years, winning a well-deserved Tony Award for it.
And the body shaming. "Eat a sandwich", "Does she have cancer", "She's all bones". Yes. That's what social media is saying about Ariana Grande. Did you body shame Mila Kunis for Black Swan? Beyonce lost 20 lbs for Dreamgirls. Tom Hanks in Philadelphia. I can go on. Again, if that's what is keeping you from seeing one of the most joyous films in 2024, you're missing out. Bigtime. She's radiant.
These women bonded and brought everything they had to the film. To the anthems that are seared into the minds of theater kids of every age from across the globe, as they each defy the gravity that seeks to hold them down. The stars know they have a year of publicity tours in addition to the year they committed to being in the actual film. Two years, or more, of their lives. That's committment.
If you don't like Wicked, that's fine. That's your opinion. Just as I have mine. If you miss this on the big screen, you'll have missed an experience. Not everyone likes musicals, I get it. But the hate proliferating out there because these women, who ignore each other's exterior differences, who might just become role models for your kids, despite your best efforts to stop that from happening, well, it's your loss. Don't watch. But I can guarantee, your kids will want to watch Wicked every Thanksgiving when parts one AND two are played on Thursday and Friday, in the coming years.
Yes. Wicked is everything fans wanted and more. I don't believe I have to tell anyone in detail what the film is about. In 25 words or less, it takes the Broadway experience of Wicked, the musical, and puts it on the big screen. The film is part one of a two-part gift to lovers of the entire Wizard of Oz/Wicked oeuvre. The original by L. Frank Baum, the B/W movie original, the novel by Gregory Maguire and the Stephen Schwartz musical are all part and parcel of this eye-and-ear candy treat.
Part one concludes with Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) seated on her broom, making ready to take the Wizard (Jeff Goldblum) to task for his lies and evil deeds he's perpetuated for years in the Emerald City. BTW, if you don't know, Wicked's timeline predates the arrival of Dorothy in Oz and her walk down the yellow brick road. The road is there, just without the Lion, the Tinman and the Scarecrow.
So I'd like to sprinkle some magic dust here and talk about some Easter Eggs in Wicked that you may not be aware of, as well as explore the atrociously blatant racism and body shaming that is going on in social media about the stars.
Where did the name Elphaba come from? L. Frank Baum. L-F-B. It's phonetic. The sound of letter "L", then the sound of "F", then one of the sounds of "B". I watched that on a Youtube video. The amusing words that the Shiz U. Students use that sound sort of like real words, but aren't, such as the word for "glitch". At Shiz, it's not a glitch, it's a "Gulch". Yes. As in Miss Gulch, the nasty, dog-hating, bicycle-riding neighbor of Aunt Em, Uncle Henry and Dorothy Gale in Kansas. The buckets of water thrown by a young child at the start of the film. Poppies and napping. I'm sure there are more, but frankly, I was too engrossed in Wicked to catch all of them.
The singing by Galinda (Ariana Grande) and Elphaba was all recorded live. As they're being spun hither and yon, dancing and flying... they are singing and it's being recorded. They didn't go back and dub it in. Why? According to both Director Jon M. Chu and the women themselves, they wanted to pay respects to the original Wicked women (Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth) who did it every day and twice on Sundays. Broadway, live. For years. And for every actress who does it on every stage, live, across the world.
Speaking of the originals, Erivo and Grande were most definitely channeling Chenoweth and Menzel. You could hear it. You could feel it. Yes, they put their own twist on them, but still. The emotion is still there, with the tap on full blast. And the originals, yes, are in Wicked.
What I really appreciated about Chu's Wicked is the way in which it expands upon Schwartz's original. You have time to learn more about the other characters and enjoy the addition of new ones. New characters such as Pfannee (Bowen Yang) and Shenshen (Bronwyn James) who were added in. Their snide back-and-forth trashtalking is hysterical. Giving a stronger love story to Nessarose (Marissa Bode) and Boq (Ethan Slater). Highlighting the way in which Fiyero (Jonathan Bailey) is drawn to both Galinda and Elphaba, for different reasons.
When you're watching the musical, which I've seen multiple times, there's so much going on on-stage, sometimes it's hard to catch all that's happening. I mean, they're pushing everything into 2 hours and 45 minutes. With two Wicked movies, the characters can breathe. Peter Dinklage's Dr. Dillamond, the professorial goat. I can't even remember his scenes in the show. But here - he's fully fleshed out and I'm sure there will be more to come from him in part two. Ever wonder how the monkeys got their wings? It's here, in Wicked. Sets the size of football fields and minimal CG. In Norfolk England, Chu and Production Designer Nathan Crowley created entire fields of real tulips set in color blocked rows that lead to Munchkinland. Nine Million Tulips.
And let's not forget the Wizard and Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh). Their plot to control the Emerald City for eternity is so much clearer here than in the show. And you can tell they had so much fun in their roles. Once the curtain is pulled back from their friendly exteriors and you see their evil interiors, they embody the actual Wickedness of Oz. And the costumes. Oh my lord, the costumes, designed by Paul Tazewell. A delicious fantasy. I expect the costumes to one day reside at the Met's Costume Institute. You get a French kiss!
Turning now to the racism and body shaming that is running rampant on social media. To those who are tearing their clothes in grief over casting, heaven help us, a black woman as Elphaba, well, you missed the entire point of Wicked. A film about acceptance. About diversity. About growth. About pushing the boundaries of what people see and becoming more. And you're ruining it for any child who listens to you. You never heard of Erivo? Too bad for you. She already has a vast musical theater background, starring in the Broadway revival of The Color Purple for two years, winning a well-deserved Tony Award for it.
And the body shaming. "Eat a sandwich", "Does she have cancer", "She's all bones". Yes. That's what social media is saying about Ariana Grande. Did you body shame Mila Kunis for Black Swan? Beyonce lost 20 lbs for Dreamgirls. Tom Hanks in Philadelphia. I can go on. Again, if that's what is keeping you from seeing one of the most joyous films in 2024, you're missing out. Bigtime. She's radiant.
These women bonded and brought everything they had to the film. To the anthems that are seared into the minds of theater kids of every age from across the globe, as they each defy the gravity that seeks to hold them down. The stars know they have a year of publicity tours in addition to the year they committed to being in the actual film. Two years, or more, of their lives. That's committment.
If you don't like Wicked, that's fine. That's your opinion. Just as I have mine. If you miss this on the big screen, you'll have missed an experience. Not everyone likes musicals, I get it. But the hate proliferating out there because these women, who ignore each other's exterior differences, who might just become role models for your kids, despite your best efforts to stop that from happening, well, it's your loss. Don't watch. But I can guarantee, your kids will want to watch Wicked every Thanksgiving when parts one AND two are played on Thursday and Friday, in the coming years.
At its heart, A Real Pain is a simple story. A pair of mismatched cousins spend their inheritance on a trip to Poland, the country where Dorrie, their grandmother and provider of said inheritance, was born. When they were young, the Kaplan boys were close. David (Jessie Eisenberg) and Benji (Kieran Culkin), hung out all the time. Per Benji, David 'used to be fun' but has become quiet, careful, buttoned up. You can see he feels like he's an 'outsider'. Benji, always a bit of a wild child, makes friends easily, cares little about convention and enjoys pushing people's buttons - especially David's.
In honor of Dorrie's memory, David books a 'Heritage Tour' of Warsaw, Poland for the two of them. They join a group of strangers including the recently divorced Marcia (Jennifer Grey) and Eloge (Kurt Egyiawan), a survivor of the Rwanda massacre, who has found solace in Judiasm. They take in the historical sites including the Jewish ghetto where so many perished, and Majdanek, the concentration camp located just on the outskirts of the bustling town of Lublin. The scenes shot here were chilling and eerily quiet, to honor the hundreds of thousands of innocent victims gassed in that prison. The pair get a taste of Polish culture, drink beer, buy silly hats, pose in front of statues. However, they don't interact much with actual Poles, which disturbs Benji. It doesn't feel authentic to him.
Poland, by the way, is a beautiful country and the videography brings it to life. Though the scars from the war remain, the people are friendly, the streets clean, even the passenger trains are sleek and well-managed. I sat there saying, 'hm, maybe I should visit Poland. My own ancestors also came from that country'.
For years the bond between the two was strong, more like brothers than cousins. Then they grew older, grew apart. David, now living in NYC, has an established career in online pop-up advertising. He has a family and a child whom he cherishes, he's moved forward. Benji, unmarried, jobless, still living with his Grandma Dorrie in upstate NY, was devastated by her passing. How deeply her death affected him, and the repercussions, aren't made clear to us till the end of the film. It is apparent throughout that Benji embraces and needs to honor the past.
Yet A Real Pain is more than a humorous travelogue. We're taken on an emotional journey; the dialogue between Benji and David is filled with sarcasm, fights, regrets and fears. The cousins challenge each other. Benji, still grieving, exhibits bouts of manic highs and lows. He can't sit still, is always on the move, always pushing boundaries of what's appropriate, whether he's in a restaurant or a cemetery. While in the airport, Benji tells David that he's looking forward to smoking some weed with him when they get to Poland. That throws David's agitation, which is carefully controlled by doses of anti-anxiety meds, into hilarious overdrive. Benji obviously relishes the effect he has on his cousin, believing by his actions, he will push him out of stagnation.
David is homesick almost before the trip begins. He watches videos of his child on autoplay. He is surprised and pleased when Benji also gets a kick out of the vids. Benji is constantly saying and doing things that make David embarrassed and anxious, feeling like he must apologize for his cousin's bizarre behavior. Benji gets annoyed and tells David that 'he used to be more fun, what happened to him'? David feels he must be Benji's guardian at all times, but Benji is having none of that. The rest of the tour group are patient through these episodes, sometimes annoyed, sometimes amused. But they are far more forgiving of Benji than David is.
I fear that none of this sounds especially interesting on paper. Yet give it a chance. It's beautifully cast, beautifully written, as well as directed, by Jessie Eisenberg. A Real Pain is more about the symbiotic relationship between two people than anything else. The resilience of a bond constantly tested and prodded. Holding too close and needing to let go. Things left unsaid because they are family, where some truths are just too hard to speak, so they use their eyes or a hug instead. Each admiring the thing in the other that they feel is lacking in themselves. With a lot of heart, the film eventually reaches that raw place of emotional nakedness it was seeking.
In honor of Dorrie's memory, David books a 'Heritage Tour' of Warsaw, Poland for the two of them. They join a group of strangers including the recently divorced Marcia (Jennifer Grey) and Eloge (Kurt Egyiawan), a survivor of the Rwanda massacre, who has found solace in Judiasm. They take in the historical sites including the Jewish ghetto where so many perished, and Majdanek, the concentration camp located just on the outskirts of the bustling town of Lublin. The scenes shot here were chilling and eerily quiet, to honor the hundreds of thousands of innocent victims gassed in that prison. The pair get a taste of Polish culture, drink beer, buy silly hats, pose in front of statues. However, they don't interact much with actual Poles, which disturbs Benji. It doesn't feel authentic to him.
Poland, by the way, is a beautiful country and the videography brings it to life. Though the scars from the war remain, the people are friendly, the streets clean, even the passenger trains are sleek and well-managed. I sat there saying, 'hm, maybe I should visit Poland. My own ancestors also came from that country'.
For years the bond between the two was strong, more like brothers than cousins. Then they grew older, grew apart. David, now living in NYC, has an established career in online pop-up advertising. He has a family and a child whom he cherishes, he's moved forward. Benji, unmarried, jobless, still living with his Grandma Dorrie in upstate NY, was devastated by her passing. How deeply her death affected him, and the repercussions, aren't made clear to us till the end of the film. It is apparent throughout that Benji embraces and needs to honor the past.
Yet A Real Pain is more than a humorous travelogue. We're taken on an emotional journey; the dialogue between Benji and David is filled with sarcasm, fights, regrets and fears. The cousins challenge each other. Benji, still grieving, exhibits bouts of manic highs and lows. He can't sit still, is always on the move, always pushing boundaries of what's appropriate, whether he's in a restaurant or a cemetery. While in the airport, Benji tells David that he's looking forward to smoking some weed with him when they get to Poland. That throws David's agitation, which is carefully controlled by doses of anti-anxiety meds, into hilarious overdrive. Benji obviously relishes the effect he has on his cousin, believing by his actions, he will push him out of stagnation.
David is homesick almost before the trip begins. He watches videos of his child on autoplay. He is surprised and pleased when Benji also gets a kick out of the vids. Benji is constantly saying and doing things that make David embarrassed and anxious, feeling like he must apologize for his cousin's bizarre behavior. Benji gets annoyed and tells David that 'he used to be more fun, what happened to him'? David feels he must be Benji's guardian at all times, but Benji is having none of that. The rest of the tour group are patient through these episodes, sometimes annoyed, sometimes amused. But they are far more forgiving of Benji than David is.
I fear that none of this sounds especially interesting on paper. Yet give it a chance. It's beautifully cast, beautifully written, as well as directed, by Jessie Eisenberg. A Real Pain is more about the symbiotic relationship between two people than anything else. The resilience of a bond constantly tested and prodded. Holding too close and needing to let go. Things left unsaid because they are family, where some truths are just too hard to speak, so they use their eyes or a hug instead. Each admiring the thing in the other that they feel is lacking in themselves. With a lot of heart, the film eventually reaches that raw place of emotional nakedness it was seeking.
I simply can't stop talking about this film to everyone I know. If Emilia Perez does not win Best Original Screenplay for 2024, and, at the very least, garner nominations for Karla Sofía Gascón as Emilia/Manitas and Zoe Saldaña as Rita, then the film industry still has some evolutionary progress ahead.
It's being billed as a musical/comedy, but it's not that at all - it's so much more. Basically, the story is about a Mexican drug cartel leader named Manitas Del Monte. He's a killer. He destroys lives and families. He's married to Jessi (Selena Gomez) and has two young children.
Manitas is also desperate to change his life. I mean, completely - he wants to become a woman and has been undergoing hormone therapy for a long time. He hires Rita, an underappreciated attorney in Mexico, to help him find a surgeon somewhere in the world who can be paid enough to keep his secret, do the head to toe transformational surgery, and help him fake his own death to complete his escape.
Yes, when I tell people just that much about the film, their reaction is always 'WHAT'????
Rita is toiling away in a job where her fellow attorneys, all men, steal her work, her glory and her financial rewards. Thinking she's heading to a meeting with a client, Manitas' men kidnap Rita, throw a sack over her head, then drive her to a one-on-one with the drug lord. She's positive she's going to be killed at any moment. Instead, Manitas lays out his whole unbelieveable plan to her, including the multimillion dollar paycheck she'll receive for helping him.
Rita agrees, at first reluctantly. She travels around the globe, researching and interviewing various plastic surgeons. Eventually she embraces the entire plan. Not only because she sees how much the money will be able to free her from her own life of being near penniless. But also because she begins to care for Manitas, as a friend, begins to trust him. Manitas adores his family, and it's obvious throughout the film that his choice was exceedingly difficult. He has a plan. He has Rita convince Jessi that she and their chidren must flee the country to keep them safe, because there is a drug war on the horizon.
And here's the kicker - it's all done in the style of Evita. That is, it's an operetta. Not a straight-up musical. There are no Oklahoma-style song and dance numbers, where the action stops and the high kicks start. And it's not British satire such as you'd find in a Gilbert and Sullivan operetta. It's more that the main characters are talking to themselves, thinking out loud, and then they start to walk the streets and start singing their thoughts, with the people surrounding them joining in. To me, the final scenes of Emilia Perez are especially reminiscent of Evita. And, of course, there's the similarity in that Evita Peron, over the course of her rise and fall, transformed herself many times.
Jessi (Gomez) experiences her own tranformation. We are first introduced to her as the pampered wife of Manitas, mother to his children. She wants for nothing. She's exceedingly unlikeable. However, though she certainly knows he's a killer, she apparently is in the dark regarding Manitas' desire to become a woman. She is heartbroken when informed of his death. A few years pass and Emilia, with Rita's help, moves Jessi and the children into Emilia's own home, introducing herself as a distant relative to Manitas.
Jessi's own transformation begins when she tires of being a bit player in her own life. She eventually makes moves to step out of the life to which that Manitas has her confined.
Narrative-wise, there is an early reveal in the film, between Rita and Manitas, which is the only part that struck me as illogical. Not because of the reveal itself, but how is it possible that Jessi didn't know? Didn't notice what was physically going on with her husband? Yes, she is definitely quite self-absorbed. But that doesn't explain away the plot hole.
Yes, it's a film about the transformation of the body. But in the case of Emilia herself, it's a complete tranformation of her soul as well. There's so much more story here, but I don't want to give the plot away. And whether she's portraying Emilia or Manitas, Karla Sofía Gascón give us an electric performance. Director Jacques Audiard has given audiences one hell of a telenovela.
It's being billed as a musical/comedy, but it's not that at all - it's so much more. Basically, the story is about a Mexican drug cartel leader named Manitas Del Monte. He's a killer. He destroys lives and families. He's married to Jessi (Selena Gomez) and has two young children.
Manitas is also desperate to change his life. I mean, completely - he wants to become a woman and has been undergoing hormone therapy for a long time. He hires Rita, an underappreciated attorney in Mexico, to help him find a surgeon somewhere in the world who can be paid enough to keep his secret, do the head to toe transformational surgery, and help him fake his own death to complete his escape.
Yes, when I tell people just that much about the film, their reaction is always 'WHAT'????
Rita is toiling away in a job where her fellow attorneys, all men, steal her work, her glory and her financial rewards. Thinking she's heading to a meeting with a client, Manitas' men kidnap Rita, throw a sack over her head, then drive her to a one-on-one with the drug lord. She's positive she's going to be killed at any moment. Instead, Manitas lays out his whole unbelieveable plan to her, including the multimillion dollar paycheck she'll receive for helping him.
Rita agrees, at first reluctantly. She travels around the globe, researching and interviewing various plastic surgeons. Eventually she embraces the entire plan. Not only because she sees how much the money will be able to free her from her own life of being near penniless. But also because she begins to care for Manitas, as a friend, begins to trust him. Manitas adores his family, and it's obvious throughout the film that his choice was exceedingly difficult. He has a plan. He has Rita convince Jessi that she and their chidren must flee the country to keep them safe, because there is a drug war on the horizon.
And here's the kicker - it's all done in the style of Evita. That is, it's an operetta. Not a straight-up musical. There are no Oklahoma-style song and dance numbers, where the action stops and the high kicks start. And it's not British satire such as you'd find in a Gilbert and Sullivan operetta. It's more that the main characters are talking to themselves, thinking out loud, and then they start to walk the streets and start singing their thoughts, with the people surrounding them joining in. To me, the final scenes of Emilia Perez are especially reminiscent of Evita. And, of course, there's the similarity in that Evita Peron, over the course of her rise and fall, transformed herself many times.
Jessi (Gomez) experiences her own tranformation. We are first introduced to her as the pampered wife of Manitas, mother to his children. She wants for nothing. She's exceedingly unlikeable. However, though she certainly knows he's a killer, she apparently is in the dark regarding Manitas' desire to become a woman. She is heartbroken when informed of his death. A few years pass and Emilia, with Rita's help, moves Jessi and the children into Emilia's own home, introducing herself as a distant relative to Manitas.
Jessi's own transformation begins when she tires of being a bit player in her own life. She eventually makes moves to step out of the life to which that Manitas has her confined.
Narrative-wise, there is an early reveal in the film, between Rita and Manitas, which is the only part that struck me as illogical. Not because of the reveal itself, but how is it possible that Jessi didn't know? Didn't notice what was physically going on with her husband? Yes, she is definitely quite self-absorbed. But that doesn't explain away the plot hole.
Yes, it's a film about the transformation of the body. But in the case of Emilia herself, it's a complete tranformation of her soul as well. There's so much more story here, but I don't want to give the plot away. And whether she's portraying Emilia or Manitas, Karla Sofía Gascón give us an electric performance. Director Jacques Audiard has given audiences one hell of a telenovela.