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Through the years, popular music has gone through a lot of different phases, often changing styles as the world outside the music industry changes, too. And the musical drama Vox Lux explores the factors leading to the creation of a young pop sensation.
Vox Lux follows the rise and rebirth of an international pop star. After surviving a horrifying school shooting at just 13 years old, young Celeste (Raffey Cassidy) first steps into the spotlight to sing a song written with her older sister, Eleanor (Stacy Martin), at a memorial service. With the help of her manager (Jude Law), she becomes an overnight success, and she’s forced to grow up quickly as she travels the world. And 18 years later, as the pop star (Natalie Portman) is preparing for the release of her sixth album, she once again finds herself caught up in tragic events.
This pop music drama starts off in a way that will definitely grab the audience’s attention. It doesn’t take long to get viewers’ hearts racing. Still, this isn’t really the story that you might expect. It isn’t the story of the fight for stardom like A Star Is Born. It isn’t an inspirational drama about someone working hard and sacrificing to make her dreams come true. Instead, Celeste is more the product of her environment—of circumstances and marketing and social media. The film offers glimpses of Celeste’s rise—of the young girl working her way through recording sessions and choreography—but she seems to spend just as much time out partying with her sister.
As an adult, Celeste is foul-mouthed and obnoxious—a spoiled, entitled child with an elevated sense of her own worth. Yet she also hints at an awareness that her fame comes not from who she is but from what social media has made her. Maybe she’s just the spectacle that audiences seek to distract themselves from the grim realities of life in the twenty-first century.
At times, Vox Lux can be thoughtful and perceptive; at other times, though, it’s just not particularly interesting. And while it has a lot to say about fame in the digital age, it might not be a message that most mainstream audiences will care to hear.
If you’re looking for an inspiring story or a fun, flashy chick flick, this is neither. It’s a film that will sometimes make you think—but the grim story and the self-absorbed character don’t make it particularly entertaining.
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