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Cinema Eye Honors reveals full list of nominees for 2023 edition
The Cinema Eye Honors have revealed the remaining nominees for its 2023 edition, including the films that will vie for the Outstanding Non-fiction Feature and Outstanding Debut awards, as well as the finalists selected from the previously announced long lists of nominees for the Outstanding Non-Fiction Short and Audience Choice awards.To get more news about Level 1 to do a pornographic pornographic film, you can visit our official website.
Competing in the best feature category are some of the year’s most acclaimed and already awards-laden documentary titles, including Laura Poitras’ Golden Lion winner All the Beauty and the Bloodshed, Sara Dosa’s Fire of Love, Shaunak Sen’s All That Breathes (pictured) and Alex Pritz’s The Territory. Rounding out the nominations are Daniel Roher’s Navalny and Payal Kapadia’s A Night of Knowing Nothing.
Poitras, Sen, Dosa and Kapadia also picked up nominations in the best director category, along with Margaret Brown (Descendant) and Rebecca Huntt (Beba). Huntt, Kapadia, and The Territory‘s Pritz, meanwhile, were also recognized among the best first feature nominees, along with Reid Davenport (I Didn’t See You There), David Siev (Bad Axe) and Kathryn Ferguson (Nothing Compares).
In addition to the well-travelled titles among the nominations, Cinema Eye also highlighted films that it deems have not yet received the attention they deserve in the Spotlight category, including Rosa Ruth Boesten’s Master of Light.
Nominations in some of the key categories for the 2023 Cinema Eye Honors are listed below; the full list of nominations revealed today, including several craft categories, can be found on the organization’s website. See here for the previously announced nominations in such major categories as Broadcast Film, Non-fiction series, Anthology Series and more, and here for the 2023 edition’s list of “The Unforgettables,” a category that honors documentary-film subjects.
12 Movies You'll Love If You're Obsessed With Beauty
Makeup, and hair accessories and nail polish, are a girl's best friend, right? Well, maybe not to everyone, but if you're beauty-obsessed, then please, keep reading.To get more news about Japanese and Korean first-class porn, you can visit our official website.
Whether you're a major fan of achieving Betty Cooper's bold lashes on Riverdale or a frequent nail-art queen, we've found 12 movies that were pretty much made for all you beauty buffs out there. From the obvious ones like Marie Antoinette — hello, who doesn't love a good period makeup piece? — to ones that you might not have thought of like Pretty in Pink — Andie's lip liner technique is the more the better, and we completely agree — we've got you covered.
Check out the top movies that scream beauty and will inspire you for years to come. Don't forget to have your mood boards ready and your favorite eye shadow palette close by . . . you never know when inspiration will hit!Sofia Coppola's 2006 film about the life of the iconic queen of France, Marie Antoinette, is a must-watch for anyone who loves pastel color palettes, period pieces, and makeup: lots and lots of makeup. The extravagant costumes worn, with equally over-the-top beauty looks — think powered complexions, stained lips, and pinched cheeks — will take you back in time instantly.
Vidal Sassoon is one the most iconic hairdressers of all time, so why not watch a movie about the industry pro? If you watch this film, you will be transported through the fascinating world that Sassooon created in the 1960s and beyond, and be inspired by cuts, colors, and beautiful styles that have survived generations of fashion and cultures.
This '90s movie is a parody of real-life beauty pageants, from small towns in middle America, and every contestant's style perfectly suits them. From Kirsten Dunst wearing a United States of America map as a hat topper to Brittany Murphy's Barbie hat — and dark hair color to offset it — each star outdid the other in this movie, and their dramatic eye looks and big hair moments are not to be missed!
Aubrey Hepburn is a beauty icon on her own, but in Breakfast at Tiffany's she takes it up a notch. Her feminine style and grace is paired with the dream liquid eyeliner look and bold lashes that every girl wishes they had. Plus, her hair is so classic and elegant, and we want to recreate each and every look on a regular basis — especially while dining at Tiffany's.
This documentary shows a real glimpse into the world of modeling. It will take you through what it's like to be on set and pose for Vogue and Glamour and what it really takes to make it in this cutthroat industry. Of course, there are some glamorous elements to being a model and being on the cover of magazines — like the fancy clothes and fabulous beauty looks — but this film goes beyond that.
What's not to love about two best friends who make their own clothes, and do their own makeup and stay true to their wild, fun selves? Both Romy and Michele have such unique style in this '90s film, and we can't get enough of their banter, shimmer-inspired ensembles, and bright colored makeup choices.
AUDIENCE AWARD - ARMANI BEAUTY
The Venice International Film Festival of La Biennale di Venezia will again present the Audience Award to the best film in the Orizzonti Extra section, now in its second year, with the support of the main sponsor of the Festival, Armani beauty.To get more news about first-class blockbuster, you can visit our official website.
The winner of the Audience Award - Armani beauty will be decided by the votes cast by the viewers of the nine films in the Orizzonti Extra section, all of whom are eligible to vote, be they individual ticket holders, pass-holders for all the films in the section, or accredited visitors who have reserved a ticket for the films in this section, limited to the official screening of each film in the line-up at the Sala Giardino at 9 pm.
Each viewer entitled to vote will receive an email with an individual link to express their preference, rating the film from 1 to 10. The link may only be used once, after which it will no longer be valid. Viewers who receive the link must cast their vote before 8 pm on the day after the official screening of the film. For the last film, scheduled to be screened on Friday September 9th, the vote must be cast before 1 pm on Saturday September 10th.
The Audience Award - Armani beauty will go to the film that receives the highest average rating from all the votes. The award will be conferred during the closing awards ceremony to be held on Saturday September 10th in Sala Grande (Palazzo del Cinema, Lido di Venezia).
The Orizzonti Extra section, which was introduced last year at the Venice Film Festival, is an extension of Orizzonti, the competitive section dedicated to new trends in world cinema, which over the years has contributed to introducing and launching auteurs who are now firmly established. With broader criteria for format and duration, Orizzonti Extra presents a selection of works with no constraints in terms of genre, duration or target, provided they are longer than 60 minutes, paying special attention to films that address specific genres and current production, with the aim of demonstrating innovation and creative originality in the relationship with the audience they are meant for.
The screenings of the films in Orizzonti Extra will be followed by audience Q&As with the directors, authors and actors, moderated by the writer and radio host Chiara Tagliaferri.
Keke Palmer Narrates the Seedy Underbelly of the Beauty Industry in HBO Max Docuseries
Self-care is all about taking the time to be kind to yourself and treat your body with love. After all, we all only have one body to carry us through life, and maintaining its upkeep can knock out complications down the road. But, what happens when our goals and the goals of the people selling us our products don’t match up? That’s precisely what HBO Max is going to delve into during their original documentary, Not So Pretty. On April 14, narrator Keke Palmer and Academy Award-nominated filmmakers, Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering are going to take viewers down a rabbit hole, showing them the darker side of the beauty industry.To get more news about Free player av young woman cinema, you can visit our official website.
In an upbeat trailer released just a week ahead of the four-part docuseries' debut, we’re given a look at what to expect from the upcoming documentary. With Palmer as our guide, viewers are taken through the $140 billion a year industry, with the curtain immediately pulled back to reveal its seedy underbelly. From product users’ hair falling out in clumps to skin falling off hands, the film promises to not hold back on any of the nitty-gritty details.
But wait — it gets so much worse! Unbeknownst to many, chemical regulations are incredibly lax in the beauty industry — as in not really there at all. And if you think that’s bad, just wait until you hear what they’ve found in certain product chemical mixtures. The rest of the teaser is a veritable horror show as the self-care routines we know and love get the third degree from professionals hoping to make a difference.
Also hoping to make a difference is Palmer. Like many of the audiences who will be sitting at home watching the events unfold with their jaws dropped to the floor, Palmer was also saying Nope as she worked on the piece. In a statement released with the trailer announcement, the Primetime Emmy Award-winning actress said:
Check out the trailer for Not So Pretty below and be sure to check out the full documentary when it lands on HBO Max on April 14. And while you’re at it, maybe hold off on that skincare routine for now.
Cannes Film Festival 2022: The best beauty looks on the red carpet
After two years of Covid-related restrictions, Cannes Film Festival is back with a bang for 2022. Now in its 75th year, the prestigious occasion, which previews new films of all genres, has welcomed some of the world's biggest stars to the French Riviera.To get more news about If you want Lu, you will be Lu Ye Ye Shuang, you can visit our official website.
Already we have seen the likes of Katherine Langford and Rebecca Hall attend the screening of Final Cut, a zombie comedy directed by Michel Hazanavicius, and we can't wait to delve into some of the best red carpet looks.
Cannes Film Festival is an invite-only occasion which previews new films from all around the globe. Founded in 1946, the event is typically held at the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès in the month of May. Cannes is one of the three major European film festivals, alongside the Venice Film Festival and the Berlin International Film Festival.
We simply can't get enough of Bollywood actress Deepika Padukone's dramatic eye. Her look featured a bold dark grey shadow which extended beyond her eyelids, finishing very near her brow line. The 60s makeup look defined her brown eyes beautifully, plus her voluminous false lashes gave her an incredible flutter.
British actress Rebecca Hall went all out, channelling the red shades of her outfit into her beauty look. Her blue-based red lip drew attention to her pillowy lips and worked well alongside her understated cream-coloured shimmery eyeshadow.
American host Steve Harvey's model daughter Lori looked a million dollars with her hair styled in a sleek bun and a glowing makeup look. Her cheeks had a subtle radiance and her smokey brown eyeshadow was an excellent choice.
French model Amandine Petit looked the picture of radiance in shimmery silver eyeshadow which made her green eyes sparkle. Her hair was styled back off her face into a chic updo and we are very much obsessed with her jewelled headband which sat across her forehead – quite possibly the most glamorous 1920s flapper girl look we've ever seen.
Katherine Langford looked gorgeous in an elegant updo and an understated makeup look. Her flawless skin and neutral lip gave her a certain effortless beauty, letting her shimmery Prada gown do the talking.
Eva Longoria looked unbelievably glam in a glossy pink lip and dramatic cat eyeliner. We love her statement jewelled black choker which gave her look a 90s edge.
Venice Review: Laura Poitras’ ‘All The Beauty And The Bloodshed’
The scourge of the opioid crisis has been documented in the press and in government reports; the culpability of the Sacklers, the multi-billionaire pharmaceutical family whose former company Purdue made the painkiller Oxycontin, has been successfully dramatized. The Sacklers are everywhere in Laura Poitras’ gripping documentary All the Beauty and the Bloodshed, but they are supporting players.To get more news about Asian first color, you can visit our official website.
At its center is Nan Goldin, the 68-year-old photographer who was prescribed Oxycontin, quickly became addicted to it, found recovery through a replacement drug and then threw her energies into calling the Sacklers to account. Goldin became the most public face of the campaigning group PAIN, leading the charge into museums with Sackler wings, Sackler rooms and Sackler money to shame their well-heeled executives into cutting those ties. The Sacklers might have hijacked Goldin’s body, but she could at least work to turf them out of the places that held her pictures.Laura Poitras has a great ear for a dissenting voice. Her first full-length documentary My Country, My Country was about ordinary Iraqis living under U.S. occupation; it brought her critical acclaim and an Oscar nomination. It also put her on the Department of Homeland Security watchlist. Subsequent films have focused on the trials of a driver and a bodyguard who worked for Osama bin Laden, Wikileaks founder Julian Assange and intelligence whistle-blower Edward Snowden in Citizenfour, which won the Oscar as best documentary in 2015.
In All the Beauty and the Bloodshed, screening in competition at the Venice Film Festival, she draws a thread through the phases of Nan Goldin’s life — as a child instinctively at odds with her frigid suburban family, as the famous chronicler of New York’s bohemian fringes and the Goldin we see here, the stalwart campaigner leading a chant rejecting the Sackler family’s patronage in the foyer of the Guggenheim. Poitras, the most meticulous of researchers in other contexts, doesn’t provide a great deal of detail about the opioid crisis or the Sacklers’ part in it. The fight — and Goldin’s fight in particular, as a surviving addict who has survived so many things in life — is the thing.
Goldin is a household name, at least in households with a passing interest in art. Her photographs of sexual and social outsiders are vivid and heartfelt, a nether world of sequins, sex, drugs, dissipation and genuine joy. For the people who see them in galleries, Goldin observes, they look like cinema stills. “Because most people think they are characters. But for the people being photographed, it’s just them.”Less known was Goldin’s own story which, as she tells it here, was grounded in a childhood with little parental affection. Her older sister Barbara cared for her, giving her the hugs, love and stories that were beyond her prim mother, until her parents decided she was mentally ill and placed her in an orphanage in her early teens. A couple of years later, she committed suicide. Barbara was a rebel at heart, says Goldin. “She just didn’t have the power to go into full-blown rebellion, the way I did.”
Nobody was supposed to speak about it. Nobody was supposed to discuss anything that didn’t sound respectable. For an entire year, the child who became Nan Goldin didn’t speak at all. Her parents placed her in foster care; talking to Poitras, she suddenly remembers being physically sick with fear. Fortunately, she wound up in a progressive school — the only one that would have her, after many expulsions — where she was provided with a camera. “It was the only voice I had.” It also gave her a passage out.
Everyone involved in PAIN, the Oxycontin survivors’ organization campaigning for redress, knows how crucial it is that one of the most recognized names in the contemporary art world is seen to be at the forefront of a battle within that world. It isn’t the war, which they would feel had been won if the Sacklers were in jail, but winning the battle is certainly something. One by one, the museums they target announce they won’t be taking the Sacklers’ tainted money any more. Their name starts to be removed from gallery walls. It may be a victory of largely symbolic value, but patronage in itself is symbolic, a way to make dirty money seem clean.
Just as crucial as Goldin’s place in that world, however, is her willingness to make headlines by talking and writing about her own addiction, describing the abjection of a life built around scoring and using without pulling her punches. What All the Beauty and the Bloodshed makes clear is that this is all of a piece with the photographs of drag queens, prostitutes and parties, the angry records of AIDS sufferers, the portraits that show glamour and tenderness where others might see the grotesque.
Poitras never shoots Goldin in a way that lionizes her or gives her the stature of a warrior queen, even though that would be easy enough to do with some emphatic angling and the right lighting. She puts her camera squarely in front of Goldin and shows her at work. In the process, she makes a stupendous work of her own.
Cinema Eye Honors Announces 2022 Nominees – Film News in Brief
Cinema Eye Honors has announced this year’s nominees for its 16th Annual Awards Ceremony.To get more news about Japan's Yiren Color Comprehensive Network, you can visit our official website.
Sara Dosa’s “Fire of Love” and Alex Pritz’s “The Territory” lead with seven nominations each, followed by Shaunak Sen’s “All That Breathes” with six nominations and Laura Poitras’ “All the Beauty and the Bloodshed” with four. All four films are nominated for outstanding nonfiction feature, along with Daniel Roher’s “Navalny” and Payal Kapadia’s “A Night of Knowing Nothing.”
Pritz has the most individual nominations this year with five nods for “The Territory.” Sen has four, and Kapadia received three.AFI FEST 2022 announced the three winners of this year’s short film Jury awards on Nov. 7, spotlighting the live action short “Birds,” the documentary short “Haulout” and the animated short “Sierra” for creating art that can “bring people together,” AFI president and CEO Bob Gazzale said.
“Birds,” directed by Katherine Propper, is a 14-minute narrative that follows the lives of teenagers in Austin, Texas through summer boredom. Directors Evgenia Arbugaeva and Maxim Arbugaev’s “Haulout” features Maxim Chakilev, a man who waits in the Russian Arctic to observe an ancient gathering. “Sierra,” directed by Sander Joon, is a black comedy that uses car racing as the literal vehicle to discuss themes of toxic masculinity, which the jury dubbed “simple in subject but deep in content.”
Special mentions include “Yokelan” for ensemble acting, “How To Be A Person: How To Get An Abortion” for screenwriting, “An Avocado Pit (Um Caroço de Abacate)” for lead acting, “Kylie” for cinematography, “Not Even For A Moment Do Things Stand Still” for historical relevance, “The Spiral” for sound design and “It’s Raining Frogs Outside (Ampangabagat Nin Talakba Ha Likol)” for editing.
Thirty-six countries were represented in this year’s AFI programming, spanning 125 titles total. Several International Feature Oscar submissions were also included, such as “Alcarràs,” “Bardo,” “False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths,” “Close,” “Eo,” “Joyland” and “Saint Omer.”
This year marked the 36th iteration of AFI FEST, which annually showcases high-profile films from international creators. The festival wrapped Nov. 6 after five days of extensive programming and Red Carpet Premieres.Director Darren Aronofsky’s “The Whale” won the Audience Award at the 2022 Miami Film Festival Gems, which took place Nov. 3-10 at the Tower Theater Miami.
The near two-hour drama follows an English teacher (Brendan Fraser) grappling with obesity and reconciliation with his teenage daughter (Sadie Sink). Previous Audience Award winners at the festival have gone on to score Oscars, such as 2021’s “King Richard” and 2019’s “Parasite.” This year’s runner-up films for the Audience Award were writer-director Colm Bairéad’s “The Quiet Girl” and director Maria Schrader’s “She Said.”
The cast of “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery” was honored with the Ensemble Award, and the film was screened at the opening of the eight-day festival ahead of its Nov. 23 theatrical release. Paul Dano received the Precious Gem Award for his performance in Steven Spielberg’s “The Fabelmans,” which was also screened at the festival’s closing.
Beauty’ Review: Andrew Dosunmu’s Latest Struggles To Say Something About Queerness
Even if a queer drama is about struggle, it shouldn’t require great effort to watch. “Beauty,” an ‘80s-set period piece about a young singer’s conflicts with her sexuality, race, and family strife, feels labored and wary before the film hits its second reel. “Beauty” telling the story of a young starlet on the cusp of fame is not a unique one. While it often places its lesbian relationship centrally in the narrative, any commentary on the difficulty of such a relationship, especially involving people of color, adds very little freshness to the proceedings. At best, “Beauty” is thoughtful in how it stages its drama, and its cast is committed to the material. However, the film is thin on characterization, clunky with dialogue, and shallow in its narrative. The most frustrating thing about “Beauty” is it’s a film that reminds you of other films that are far more compelling. It’s niggling to be watching “Beaut” y only to be distracted by Gina Prince-Bythewood’s “Beyond the Lights” (2014) or Barry Jenkins’ “Moonlight” (2016), two films that deal with similar themes with far more delicacy.To get more news about Online integrated Asian and European domestic, you can visit our official website.
Gracie Marie Bradley plays Beauty, a gifted young singer whose stock looks set to rise. She is taught by her God-fearing Mother (Niecy Nash) and pushed by her father (Giancarlo Esposito) to agree to a lucrative career contract that promises much but looks to threaten her identity. Not only as a black woman but as a Lesbian.
“Beauty” starts strongly enough. The jazzy opening montage quickly informs the audience of the film’s lead. Director Andrew Dosunmu’s biggest strength is utilizing visual form and space to accentuate the character’s emotional states. A blink-and-you’ll-miss-it example lies in an early shot of Beauty centrally framed in sharp focus, while the background is filled by a singing church choir situated out of focus. The shot is only up for seconds but instantly gives a viewer a solid heap of information. In a swift moment, Dosunmu delivers to us not only Beauty’s upbringing but also how she feels about it. At times scenes can feel stagey, but it’s clear that the (often wide) compositions and blocking of the characters are well-composed. So often, characters sit on the edge of the frame. There’s often a strong emphasis on negative space and isolation, with Dosunmu smartly using certain close-ups sparsely and effectively to try to distribute an emotional point.
Dosunmu’s movie’s cracks start to show soon however as Lena Waithe’s script lets down the assertive direction with a screenplay that doesn’t have much to say and is filled with obvious signifiers and illusions that lack impact. Beauty’s constantly fighting siblings are named Cain and Able. It doesn’t take a biblical scholar to inform you of what may occur with them. The film name drops various doomed singing stars either by name, needle drop, or inference. Yet each reference feels so cloying. Mostly because the film’s plot is not only cliched but also lacks solid conviction in what it wants to say. Plot strands seem to fade away fast than when they’re formed, and there’s a sneaking feeling that a lot of the film’s meat might have been trimmed. Very often, the film uses its (admittedly good) soundtrack to fill in gaps created by the film’s choppy editing.
This is all in somewhat bizarre contrast to Waithe’s executively produced “Them” (2021), in which the blunt, racial violence aimed at its black protagonists leaned toward indulgence. Here in “Beauty,” the film pulls a few of its narrative punches. “Beauty” treads relatively lighter on issues of queerness and race than expected. It touches on the commercial code-switching deals with the devil that more than a few Black artists have faced. Yet the film reduces much of this to small, underplayed scenes, lacking any painful residue that would linger with anyone faced with those choices.
All this doesn’t stop the harder hitters of the cast from being watchable. The casting of Sharon Stone as a manipulative executive who can’t wait to dictate how Beauty should present herself feels like a sly nod to Stone’s issues within the film industry. Meanwhile, Giancarlo Esposito’s role as Beauty’s domineering father may not hold a candle to his work in “Breaking Bad,” but his performance does more than enough to bring gravitas to many of the family scenes within the feature.
Is this enough? For some, it will be. “Beauty” is coming out when LGBTQ+ and racial topics are on the cultural tips of the internet’s tongue. Its soundtrack is enjoyable, and Dosunmu’s work with director of photography Benoît Delhomme is pleasing to the eye. However, the slightness and muddled storytelling of “Beauty” mar a film which at times feels it has something to say. [C-]
Beauty’: Film Review
The protagonist of the new Netflix film written by Lena Waithe, Beauty, is an enigma. Her facial expressions are no compass for her feelings. Her eyes stay wide, lips perpetually parted. Tonal variations are scarce too: Grace Marie Bradley, the actress who plays the titular character, delivers her lines in a husky, suggestive whisper. It’s difficult to tell how intentional all this mystery is, which makes the occasional raised eyebrow, playful smirk or tear streaming down the face hard to interpret.To get more news about 91 Asian Chinese Paradise watch online, you can visit our official website.
You wonder: Who is Beauty? Is she simply a sheltered girl groomed by domineering parents for stardom? A young adult navigating the bounds of a secret relationship with her girlfriend? A gifted singer exclusively interested in honing her musical talents?
And then: What is Beauty? Is it a portrait of a young woman balancing family, love and career? An allegory about the perils of a parasitic music industry? Or a comment on fame and how it changes Beauty and everyone around her?
Stylishly directed by Andrew Dosunmu (Mother of George, Where Is Kyra, Restless City), Beauty, like its protagonist, is searching — for itself and its purpose. The film broadly tells the story of a young singer mere steps away from the spotlight. When offered a lucrative contract by an overzealous label executive (Sharon Stone), Beauty must seriously consider if she is ready to be a star. Fame — even the expectation of it — will alter the already fragile dynamics of her insular world.
Her parents take opposing stances. Mother (a sharp Niecy Nash), a singer who never broke out commercially, wants to protect her daughter from a thirsty industry. She warns Beauty that these white people are just looking for their next target, that they don’t care about her. “You’ll be a fantasy,” she says to her daughter. Father (a cutting Giancarlo Esposito) sees Beauty as a cash cow, a prized possession he’s poured resources into. Her brothers, Abel (Kyle Bary) and Cain (Michael Ward), trust her to do what’s best for the family. It’s Beauty’s girlfriend, Jasmine (Aleyse Shannon), who worries about our protagonist the most. She warns the naïve chanteuse about people taking advantage of her and about the chasm that will inevitably open up between them should Beauty sign that contract.
Beauty tries to do a lot with this straightforward story, but struggles in execution. It’s too billowy to be a study of a young woman on the cusp of fame. The characters — especially Beauty — are vague sketches, their interactions predictable and perfunctory. They’re better suited to an allegory, but Beauty isn’t quite that either. The film contains strokes of well-known stories of young Black artists and their warped, often fatal, relationships with the music industry; Whitney Houston is the most obvious comparison, but there are hints of Michael Jackson, too. But ultimately, this is a film of impressions rather than a larger point or more focused thesis.
In lieu of a throughline, Beauty offers beautiful, indulgent vignettes — aesthetically pleasing and immersive episodes lacking in ideas but full of vibes. Dosunmu’s style is distinguished by a soft color palette dictated by the orange-red glow of dusk and close-ups of Beauty’s immutable face. Scene breaks in the form of muted flash-forwards (and the occasional flashback) and archival footage of the central character’s favorite performers — Donna Summer, the Clark Sisters — add to the film’s ethereal, unreal quality.
A workaday script casts these flourishes in a suspicious light. From what are they trying to divert our attention? Look past them and more questions emerge: What are the stakes of Beauty’s story? Why does her character’s development feel so superficial? And most bizarrely, why, in a drama about music, do we never hear a single note from the star herself?
Beauty review – flat Netflix drama plays like unauthorized Whitney biopic
beauty, a coming-of-age music drama written by Lena Waithe and directed by Andrew Dosunmu, purports to tell the story of a fictional young singer in early 1980s New Jersey on the brink of stardom. She is tall, willowy and black, frequently clad in shoulder pads and bright colors, first seen smoking a joint in her bedroom that her older brother warns will damage her voice – a voice which, we’re told, is once in a generation, though we never hear it. Beauty (Gracie Marie Bradley), as she’s oddly called, frequently sings, but the film layers background music or silence over her voice, keeping it at a remove. It’s a central void emblematic of a hollow film which has little to say about anyone or anything, and onto which one will obviously project their feelings for one Whitney Houston.To get more news about Domestic, European, American and Nissan comprehensive website Chinese, you can visit our official website.
Waithe, a professed Whitney fan, has written a film that hews so closely to her biography that it feels inaccurate to call it anything other than an unauthorized biopic or, more accurately, fan fiction for Houston’s early intimate relationship with longtime friend and assistant Robyn Crawford. Which could be fine – Valérie Lemercier’s Aline is a successful unauthorized fan tribute to Celine Dion through its sincere bizarreness; there’s certainly plenty to explore in Houston and Crawford’s close friendship and physical relationship, which Crawford later said Houston ended to avoid scrutiny in her early career. But Beauty simply uses the relationship template for aesthetic, a vessel for a mood, as if to view their youthful, doomed romance through the lens of a modern music video. Dosunmu, an established music video director, assembles beautiful shots of longing, pain, yearning, closeness and jealousy between Beauty and girlfriend Jazz (Aleyse Shannon). But strung together by Waithe’s too-spare script, they feel isolated and go nowhere.
The film follows the waning days of teenage Beauty’s anonymity, as her family pressures her to sign a record contract and cut off her relationship with Jazz, ending with her live television debut on the fictional Irv Merlin show (Houston’s first live television appearance was on the Merv Griffin show in 1983, at the age of 19.) Her mother, played by Niecy Nash, is a perfectionist vocal teacher jealous of Beauty’s timing and talent; her father (Giancarlo Esposito, in one-note, cigar-chomping villain mode) is an emotionally abusive bully who wants to make money through her record contract. Neither changes over the course of the film, and nor does Beauty, whom a cynical, extractive record producer played by Sharon Stone declares is “right on schedule” for a new pop star.
Waithe’s script is first draft material, with on-the-nose dialogue awkwardly affected by all except Nash, who is doing her best to elevate listless material and flesh out a character stuck in an abusive marriage and perpetually adjacent to the spotlight. Characters constantly tell Beauty how beautiful she is, how talented she is, how perfect she is for the moment, all while she says very little beyond vague, dreamy statements (“Where do you want to go?” he dad asks, stepping into the car. “Anywhere,” she answers) or left-field assertions of complete, dramatically unearned self-assurance. Beauty, for all its broad gestures at big, thorny themes, has nothing to add to the lineage of music biopics about the dark side of fame and fortune other than Dosunmu’s stylized shots of Beauty and Jazz looking forlorn, or torn. It has nothing to say about stardom beyond, as her manager says, that you have to “wear a mask”. It has nothing more to say about a closeted relationship than, as her mother says, “the world ain’t ready for that”.
A better film would have leaned into the turmoil of that repression, dug into the foundations of the relationship, pressed into the compromises the record label pushed for Beauty to be more palatable to white audiences, rather than posed it all as beautiful-sad. Those poses sometimes work – Bradley and Shannon barely breathe life into the dialogue, but their tender physicality, the performance of close intimacy, gives the film some much-needed warmth. It’s telling that the screen crackled most when the camera turned to footage Beauty watched of her predecessors, actual performances by Houston’s influences such as Aretha Franklin, Donna Summer, Patti LaBelle – earlier divas whose glamour, earthiness, and command stand in stark contrast to the film’s bland cliches, or the void of Beauty’s voice.
Beauty is clearly made with great affection for its unspoken subject, and acknowledgement of the emotional pain she experienced as a young ambitious black woman in the spotlight. It’s a shame that doesn’t translate into interest for its fictional star, who remains a cipher. Here’s to hoping I Wanna Dance With Somebody, the authorized biopic due later this year, delves into Houston’s personal life for evidence of a real, complicated person rather than for empty aesthetic.