Leos Carax’s latest film, “Annette,” opens Cannes 2021 on 6 July. It is a fusion of different flavors, ranging from a ‘glam rock video clip’ to a ‘puppet animation’, a ‘backstage musical’ to a ‘motorcycle movie’. A ventriloquist meta-comedy with an anti-musical vein. But he will be remembered when Leos Carax, the extraordinary master of the Second French New Wave, who became famous for his masterpieces, bumped into Adam Driver.
The main target is to create album
The Sparks Brothers are pioneering composers with alternative glam/art rock identities. In 2021, two buddies using ‘puppet animation’ through the eyes of Edgar Wright became the object of his biographical documentary. “Sparks Brothers” Sundance opened in 2021. In “Annette”, a brotherhood is established with her.
It could be described as a crazy meta-rock live-action animated musical that Ron and Russell Mael wanted to do with Carax. The crazy idea of ’Annette baby’, which they think of as an album, is actually looking for a place to position itself in a feature length here.
The director has not signed a clear musical before. But he was noted for his reviews of alternative, vascular, and wild romances. Here he adds a new one to them. He opens the film with a scrolling Champetier camera. Working with Rivette, Huillet-Straub and Fontaine, the experienced cinematographer pursues the creativity of the film or musical work entirely through the subconscious corridors he takes us from there. But it is not as magical an introduction as the recent “City of Lovers” (“La La Land”, 2016).
Does Adam Driver have Charlie Kaufman character?
Adam Driver is the most dominant individual of Ron and Russell’s bipartisan identities. His will is “Being John Malkovich” (“Being John Malkovich”, 1999) an approach that leaves the impression of being shot by Karel Zeman. We’re watching existential performances by an influential stand-up comedian, ostensibly Kaufman. But essentially, other things flow in the centre. What happens with the harmony of production design and cinematography is reconstructed and takes on the consistency of ‘puppet’ with the shapes it enters.
Against this situation, we see a fantastic poker face/dialogue comedy wrapped in musical scenes over ‘baby Annette’. Beginning with Browning’s “The Unholy Tree” (1922), starring Lon Chaney, the formula of the ventriloquist movie comes into play after a while and takes everything under control. In the last 40 years, it is possible to say hi to Attenborough’s “Magic” (1978) and Wan’s “Dead Silence” (2007).
Dreams: “The King of Comedy”, Reality: “Funny People”
Director King Vidor thanked Edgar Allan Poe and Stephen Sondheim. Playing from these different strings is not surprising. Here we are watching a stand-up dialogue comedy in the corridors of an extraordinary anti-musical. But ‘poker face sketches’ give way to ‘vulgar humor’. The representation of this shifts from the focus of dialogue to a dimensionless improvisation. Driver quickly turns the film around himself. In this sense, the fact that Phoenix is not the first to be considered instead of him turns into a serious weakness.
In “Joker” (2019), the actor successfully handled the influential role “King of Comedy” (“The King of Comedy”, 1982). There is no player fabric here to reach that mastery. On the contrary, the self-confidence attitude of Adam Sandler, whose ability to exploit Judd Apatow in “Funny People” in 2009 and open space for a forced 146 minutes, is always controversial, comes to mind.
“Backstage Musical” stop retracts everything
In the musical genre, there is a oscillation between backstage musicals of the 30s and a double dance movie. The momentum of Astaire and Rogers on the second also comes to mind on the first straight. But gradually the dominance of the 1930s backstage musical subgenre is felt. “42. Street” (“42nd Street”, 1933) and the “Broadway Melody” and “Gold Diggers” series come to mind. It’s as if those apps didn’t exist in the 80’s with “A Chorus Line” (1985) and experience their outdated usage in a more ‘cynical’ way.
At best, it comes to mind that the modern rock opera in Demy’s “Parking” (1985) brought Orphea into the ranks of Gen X. It is debatable how right the director has shifted to here rather than the permanent genre examples (“Cherbourg Umbrellas”, “Girls from Rochefort”) he made in his early years. But maybe it was Driver’s lack of Gene Kelly potential that caused this situation. While there is such a tendency, a consistent typing never emerges.
The interpretation of the Astaire-Rogers identities through “Singin’ in the Rain”, 1952, actually opens up space for us to watch a meta-musical in all its corridors. But over time, Driver’s characterization is over-released and he emerges impromptu from the movie universe. The structure of “Annette” is based on the aim of specializing in a way that is prone to the stage-life relationship.
But at that point, a mature actor performance is sought with a candle. Cotillard gets out of control when he doesn’t accompany the rookie Driver. In this way, the multi-layered structure of the structure, which is prone to ‘glam rock video clips’, from ‘animation’ to ‘street culture’ can become confusing after a while. The introduction of the motorcycle movie is not taken too far, the influential examples of the 60s and 70s are not remembered.
Does Lavant comes as a brother to Merde typing?
Of course, going back and forth between pantomime and puppet theater after a point is enjoyable. It puts us in a Carax toy. But even if Driver puts the “sexual intercourse movie” into action with his nude scenes and sets the goal of making the name of Annette completely alternative, he can only sign an anti-musical that cannot compete with his works at the level of his masterpiece.
The character of Merde, who salutes the vocal period of physical comedy, especially Keaton, with Lavant, whom he has been using since his first feature, never speaks, is sought after by candlelight! Even the short part of the anthology movie “Tokyo!” (2008) devoted to that cult character got more excited than that.
Leos Carax: An officer director
It is not known whether the director is enjoying this, but when he leaves the ropes to Driver, who makes some movies “a joke”, he has to deviate from a third-rate physical comedy product. This does not keep the film afloat despite the highest level of fusion structure possible. We would have thought that “Annette” was shot by a Hollywood official if Carax’s name was not mentioned. What a word to compete with Dumont’s rock opera masterpiece “Jeannette” (2014), which comes from the name, the weight difference is obvious! Let alone the classic “Tommy” (1975) in this sub-genre, it is not even possible to compete with the clever works made in the last period.
The Sparks Brothers’ ‘glam rock’ fusion is enjoyable to an extent. It gives the impression of being adapted into fiction too late. When their world gets out of control, thanks to Adam Driver, it can open up space for ‘exploitation’ when it takes an extremely dimensionless and cheap approach. Although names such as Kaufman, Gondry and Zeman come to mind as styles, they cannot make an impact on the final result. On the contrary, they remain wannabes.
We are watching a stumbling block, perhaps a work accident, or a work that will be referred to as ‘just a neat film’ for the first time, for the director of the masterpiece factory, who has accomplished miracles. Turning 60 hasn’t worked, and here Carax is risking a dimensionless video clip that risks a headache. Perhaps it signals a career shifting to sloppy films. But even this state of the director can carry a ‘genius’
Annette (2021)
Directed by: Leos Carax
Starring: Adam Driver, Marion Cotillard, Simon Helberg, Devyn McDowell, Angèle, Natalia Lafourcade, Sinay Bavurhe, Franziska Grohmann, Rachel Mulowayi, Christiane Tchouhan, Lauren Evans
Screenplay by: Ron Mael, Russell Mael
Production Design by: Florian Sanson
Cinematography by: Caroline Champetier
Film Editing by: Nelly Quettier
Costume Design by: Pascaline Chavanne, Ursula Paredes Choto
Set Decoration by: Marion Michel
Music by: Ron Mael, Russell Mael
MPAA Rating: R for sexual content including some nudity, and for language.
Distributed by: Amazon Studios
Release Date: July 6, 2021 (Cannes Film Festival), July 7, 2021 (France), August 6, 2021 (United States)
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