oli_lanou’s review published on Letterboxd:
I don’t understand how this movie is so good. I have many problems with it, which i’ll get to later, but at the same time it’s like i don’t care about them because the story is just so huge and emotional and the ending is amazing.
I don’t believe it. I don’t know where to start. I guess i’ll start with what happened before the movie. The overabundance of the trailer that was literally anywhere, Cynthia Erivo’s tweet about a photoshop of her face is iconic, and all the weird interviews with Ariana Grande holding Cynthia’s index while she cries are all things that made me so inexplicably interested in the movie because what type of movie provokes this sort of things to happen?
But then, i sat in a theater seat, and i gave it a shot. I had never watched anything Oz related before in my life so i didn’t even know what the story could be about. That also means that i didn’t know the tone of this universe, which leads me to my first problem with this film. For the first like 40 minutes, i just found everything so weird and out of place. The humor was too much, the talking animals were unsettling and Galinda was extremely annoying and mean. However, once i got used to this tone and this universe, i was truly immersed. Ariana Grande’s character evolved and i ended up not hating her, which is great, and while i do think the movie should’ve taken Elphaba’s bullying and loneliness way more seriously in its first half, this problem goes away when they arrive to Emerald City and Elphaba becomes the broken and misunderstood character she should’ve been from the start. She becomes her own person and that’s truly the best part of the movie.
Another criticism i have, and i know im not the only one who thinks that but i still have to mention it, why does the movie look like that? The colors are beautiful, the lighting is so well done, but it’s just so bland and pale. It’s like they didn’t even bother to color grade it, and it would’ve been so much better if they just put the effort in to make it look vibrant. Some sequences do, i just don’t understand why it isn’t like that for the whole film.
That pretty much sums up every problem i have regarding the quality of this movie. Now i don’t even know where to start when talking about what i liked. The performances maybe? Oh boy are they good. Every supporting performance are excellent, but Ariana Grande obviously is the standout. She’s so funny and even though she’s unlikeable for almost half the movie, she manages to be extremely good near the end when she needs to be more serious and emotional. And what can i say about Cynthia Erivo that hasn’t been said a million times before. How is it possible to be this good? Give that girl an Oscar, an Emmy, any other award that she can get because she fucking crushes this role. Saying she gives an outstanding performance would be an understatement. Truly unbelievable stuff.
The story is gripping, especially when it enters its third act. It’s a bit all over the place at first, but it never loses sight of what it’s trying to say, and as soon as they get to Emerald City it’s just phenomenal. I didn’t feel the runtime at all and i wish so badly it was a full movie, even if it went on for five hours i don’t care give it to me now! Also, i know i have already mentioned it before, but the ending is so grandiose and spectacular, and Defying Gravity is undoubtedly one of the best songs of the year made for a movie.
Talking about the masterpiece that is Defying Gravity, let’s talk about how the entire soundtrack is amazing. I’m listening to it right now on repeat since i left the cinema and god is it good. Every song and choreography is perfect and fits the tone of whatever scene it takes place in, and the vocal performances are unsurprisingly impeccable.
I think i’ve said all i had to say for now. I laughed (a lot), i cried (a lot too), i was stressed, i was relaxed, i felt everything during this film. I did not expect it to be this good, trust me i was ready to really dislike it, but now i confidently say that this is without a doubt one of the best movie of the year. I will say two things before leaving: 1- please color grade your movies, they will benefit so much from it and 2- please, please, PLEASE put Jonathan Bailey in literally everything he's so hot😩.
This movie’s fucking incredible and i don’t believe it’s real. It cannot be this good. Yet it is. Go see it please! Thank you for reading and again, go see it anytime you can!
