Idea of an Award
The Oscar goes to…
What is the experience of an award-winning film? Does it consist of an emotionally impactful story? Does it contain characters who are relatable? Is it one which gives you a whole new perception of life? Is it a film that only talks about big ideas?
Not many people would ask these questions. Critics and audiences usually watch a movie and write down whatever they think, whether it be a single sentence or a longer review that explains what they felt when watching. Unless the review is well thought out or the film is amazing or you’re a huge cinephile, we rarely see a lengthy and detailed review which captures what the film is trying to say. Most general audiences are likely going to rate a movie the moment it finishes.
A Danger in Movie and Story Reviews in General
For a story to sink into your head, you must always take your time and dwell on it. Sometimes if a story is truly good then the more you think of it the more enriching and satisfied you will be. It would be just as you had experienced the epitome of human pleasure. These stories may not seem great or impactful at first thought but as you dwell on them, the deeper you see them.
However, there are great stories that lie. These types of stories are the ones that seem amazing at first glance but as you dwell on them, more and more of their flaws are revealed. In the future, you would be beating yourself as to why you loved this flawed story so much. These types of stories can be great even if there are certain flaws in them. I enjoyed Joker 2 despite knowing its flaws. The emotions in that spur of moment were impactful enough to leave an impression even through those flaws. These stories as I said can be enjoyed but they can also be dangerous.
When you watch a great movie that lies, you only feel the emotions in that spur of the moment. Your review right after the movie is also in that spur of the moment and not a lasting one. It’s like a Lego set. You build it, are satisfied, and put it away. It doesn’t have a lingering impact for the rest of your life.
Why is this dangerous?
So what if a movie doesn’t have that lasting impact, I could just watch it again and feel those emotions then forget about it. It would not have a negative effect on my daily life anyway.
In the short run, these movies can satisfy you and give you that impact but in the long run, they may be treated with more respect and honor than movies that deserve it. Making a movie is hard and if possible when a film does it right with an amazing story then it should get the recognition it deserves but that is usually never the case. Sometimes a great film that lies takes all the spotlight only to never be talked about again while the ones who deserved it remain in ashes. It is unfair and almost a crime to the ones behind them. It is almost as if a criminal were awarded for something which they had done wrong for.
It’s the year 2025, January…awards season.
One of the most controversial award players, Emilia Peretz had been snubbing awards left and right. Fans were enraged at how a film like this got all this recognition and honor. If a film gets this many awards, then it should be amazing, right?
Before we get into that, we have to know exactly what Emilia Peretz is about. Simply put, Emilia Peretz is a story revolving around 3 women whose lives were changed by one another. There is the lawyer, Rita who escaped her terrible job and helped this drug boss to become a woman and in turn, she gives her a job. There is Emilia herself, a drug boss turned woman who is changing lives by opening up an organization to find missing people. There is Jessi, the wife of the drug boss, who didn’t know of Emilia’s identity and was in total shambles with her life. These 3 intertwining characters would cross paths with one another and affect each other in various ways.
The biggest highlights of this movie are the themes it portrays like transgender, the fairness of the justice system, the talented being disregarded to the shadows, the corrupted figures who dwell in charity, and the extent of achieving a better life. A lot of these themes and ideas were tough, mature, and not explored in mainstream media. This feels innovative and risky, something that could pay off in the long run. What is even better is that the 3 main leads gave the performances of their careers. Everything here has all the ingredients an award-winning film should have. A linear plot that keeps the audience engaged. Characters who are entwined with each other and have compelling stories. Big themes and ideas for us to think about. So, what is causing all the controversy?
This is a great film that lies
A lie that disapproves and disrespects the ideas the film portrays and creates this illusion that it has a great story when it doesn’t. It feels good but when you think beyond its ideas then everything falls apart.
As I said, one of the highlights of this film is the big themes portrayed. For a critic, having themes like these to be shown on mainstream media is like a kid being excited about Skibidi toilet. Skibidi Toilet is pointless but provides that dopamine to keep you engaged and excited. For a critic even a surface-level portrayal of these themes is enough to release some dopamine and get them excited. Look, I will admit that I too found these themes being tackled as impressive at first but on second thought I don’t think the film portrayed them in any meaningful way.
Theme
Take the transgender theme. This is a big and important one to our society. People should understand that it is okay to be trans. It is fine to do whatever you want with your body. We have seen countless times in various countries how their governments have banned trans. This is discriminative and being trans should be seen as a normalized act in our society.
With all this discrimination, you would think that the film is going to portray how Emilia rose from the bottom and the struggle she had to endure just by being trans but no. We don’t get any of that. In fact, it seems like the polar opposite. When Emilia became a woman, she got everything she wanted. She was liberated, happy, rich, seen as a hero, and found love. She got everything she wanted without facing much struggle. It is almost as if this were some propaganda for what trans life is like when in reality it may be nothing like it.
In Squid Game S2, there was a subplot regarding a trans character in the games and her character felt way more compelling than whatever we got here. We see her struggles on how she felt liberated but the sacrifice she made was too much. We see how she struggled to survive in a world filled with discrimination and greed and it felt satisfying when people started to accept her for who she is.
That is what a theme like this should talk about, not just a sad little moment until the character becomes everything she dreamed of.
That is what every one of these themes felt like. You have moments where it showcases a particular idea and message only for that to be tossed aside to move on to the next thing or shown in a very surface-level manner. We have the theme of the injustice system so the film shows a criminal getting to walk out freely and that is it. The theme of a talented individual being tossed to the shadows only had Rita complaining about that lifestyle and never doing anything to get out of it. For a critic, they love the idea of movies saying big and bold things no others would ever do and so immediately after leaving the theatre they would drop out a positive review and be contemptuous with themselves. However, we also have to understand that mentioning and not exploring big ideas and themes are not impactful.
If you only briefly showcase or mention these themes, you are just lying about your movie’s purpose. You’re tricking critics into thinking everything on screen was big, ambitious, and deep, but it all feels the same as words written on a piece of paper. This is all a lie that the critics are fed on in that spur of the moment, creating an illusion of this film being awards-worthy — a scam that critics have easily fallen for.
Characters
To add more fuel to the fire, the characters here could have been more compelling if their journeys had been focused. As mentioned, the story revolves around 3 characters. Rita the lawyer, Emilia Peretz, the drug boss turned woman and Jessi his ex-wife. While Emilia Peretz is the movie’s title and the actress also being nominated as the main actress, you could still argue the film is actually about Rita. That is the issue. If you can’t even tell who is the main character then there is a problem. The film couldn’t focus on a singular journey. It hops from one plotline to the next until the whole film ends.
If we take Rita for example her whole character arc is based around her always being cast into the shadows while her talents were exploited by her boss to be seen in the spotlight. This gives her enough motivation to help this drug boss to transition into a woman so she can get all the money and start a new life. It was only when Emilia (the drug boss turned woman) returned had she been cast into the shadows as her talents were exploited again. We see how she convinced these criminals to divulge the whereabouts of their buried victims yet Emilia took all the credit and stood in the spotlight. All this was very interesting but unfortunately, we kept jumping about to Emilia’s story and casting Rita to a smaller role.
Emilia has this ambitious idea to change people’s life as inspired by how Rita changed her’s. Without any thought, she goes on about opening up an organisation to find missing people which she exploits Rita’s skills of persuasion to get the info. She wants to be a better person and not the monster she was in the past. This backfires when her past keeps catching up to her and is unable to let go of her family. The plotline could have been great but we suddenly had to shift our perspective spontaneously into a whole new character. What was worse is that the biggest struggle Emilia had to face was keeping her family. It’s not like the topic of being trans played a role but it was simply almost non-existent.
The biggest scrutiny this film does is underutilized Jessi. She has no business other than being a plot device for characters to have conflict with. She dates this new guy but we were barely shown anything about this guy. We don’t see what her life was like beyond surface-level dialogue. Selena Gomez tried but her character feels empty and underutilised in various ways. There is nothing about her that is inherently interesting. She is just there for conflict.
All in all, the characters were not developed or focused in a way we care about. It was written sloppily and paced together to be a visually pleasing-looking film. It doesn’t have the sharpness of an award-winning movie. It looks and feels good but the fundamental flaws are inherently present.
This is what great movies that lie would do. They try to be big, bold, ambitious and have strong themes but none of them ever resonates with anybody outside of critics who get excited about said themes being shown. That is not what an award-winning movie should be. That is not what many others should be treated like when they have put more effort into their movies. An award-winning movie should tell a big message but also leave a lasting impact on the audience.
A Message for Everyone
I sincerely hope the Academy members who vote for the next best picture take this seriously. This is just an award and all of this is purely entertainment but as I see it movies and stories in general are not supposed to be glorified money-makers.
Movies are stories which make a change in our lives. We reward movies that intertwine strong narratives, compelling characters and a powerful theme, granting them a tittle worthy to be seen and heard by all for generations to come.
A critic may just watch this movie and immediately give a score without even a thought, so I urge you to not do that. Please think for even a minute about what you just watched and what you learned from it. Think about whether you cared and remembered the character’s names. Think about whether the plot moved in a way that feels engaging. Ponder on the themes and what they tried to say. If we were to reward the movies which lack the effort and complexity of others, we’re not only devaluing the essence of storytelling but also staining the art of filmmaking.
