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★★★★★
15 January 2020
A movie review of EMA. |
D: Pablo Larraín (Jackie, Neruda, The Club, No, Post Mortem, Tony Manero).
S: Gael García Bernal, Mariana Di Girolamo, Paola Giannini, Santiago Cabrera.
“It’s your fault that people look at us in public as if we suffocated a dog with a plastic bag.” Ema (Mariana Di Girolamo)
Opening on a traffic light on fire, you would be right in suspecting what is about to unfold is going to be different. The film just drops you in on a couple verbally tearing strips off each other. And we get swept along. Fight the unusual narrative current if you want, but I relished the ride. A couple is disintegrating. Context and backstory are parsimoniously and deftly woven in. The filmmakers trust the audience to keep up.
I preferred EMA to MARRIAGE STORY [2019]. In modern day Chile, an artistic couple are regretting abandoning their young Columbian adopted son Polo (Cristián Suárez), who burnt a relative’s face. The circumstances, like the rest of the film, are not clear-cut. EMA is ambiguous and ambitious. The film takes on notions of masculinity and femininity. Gastón (Gael García Bernal) is infertile. The titular lead is labelled a bad mother. A couple repeatedly goes for the jugular. How do they have any blood left in their veins?
S: Gael García Bernal, Mariana Di Girolamo, Paola Giannini, Santiago Cabrera.
“It’s your fault that people look at us in public as if we suffocated a dog with a plastic bag.” Ema (Mariana Di Girolamo)
Opening on a traffic light on fire, you would be right in suspecting what is about to unfold is going to be different. The film just drops you in on a couple verbally tearing strips off each other. And we get swept along. Fight the unusual narrative current if you want, but I relished the ride. A couple is disintegrating. Context and backstory are parsimoniously and deftly woven in. The filmmakers trust the audience to keep up.
I preferred EMA to MARRIAGE STORY [2019]. In modern day Chile, an artistic couple are regretting abandoning their young Columbian adopted son Polo (Cristián Suárez), who burnt a relative’s face. The circumstances, like the rest of the film, are not clear-cut. EMA is ambiguous and ambitious. The film takes on notions of masculinity and femininity. Gastón (Gael García Bernal) is infertile. The titular lead is labelled a bad mother. A couple repeatedly goes for the jugular. How do they have any blood left in their veins?
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Role reversal. Ema is the equivalent of Tom Reagan (Gabriel Byrne) in the Coen brothers’ best film, MILLER’S CROSSING [1990]. She is ripping apart their marital world. Is she self-destructing? Seeking to destroy others? Or is there a brilliant long game? Watching a woman do this in a film is so rare. It tends to be only femme fatales like Matty Walker (Kathleen Turner) in BODY HEAT [1981] or Bridget Gregory (Linda Fiorentino) in THE LAST SEDUCTION [1994]. EMA pulls the rug from under the audience in the most dazzling, satisfying way.
Ema’s walk mirrors her attitude: Demolition. We watch her make mincemeat of everyone. Part of a spectacular experimental theatre dance troupe, she also moonlights as a reggaeton dancer. And she is a dance teacher. Ema dances to express, to educate, to numb, and as transcendence. Mariana Di Girolamo is a fascinating lead. What a discovery! She eviscerates the screen.
Ema is intimidating because we are not used to her like in cinema: Self-assured, alluring, formidable, physical, and sharp-tongued. Yes, the rom-com pinnacles of HIS GIRL FRIDAY [1940] and THE PHILADELPHIA STORY [1940] have female leads of striking presence, but they do not subdue to this degree. The way she is control of her mind, her body, those sucked into her orbit, and the very environment she inhabits – wait till you see her with a flamethrower. This is a character who has been buffeted by life and her husband, leaves youthful weakness behind, and takes charge of her own destiny. The film feels random, the way life is, and then pulls everything together, which life sometimes does.
In the #MeToo era, a director marrying his head dancer fails to sit right, and the film knows it. (MARRIAGE STORY also discussed it.) There is a 12-year age difference between Gastón and Ema. One wonders if he held her back. She is a talented choreographer of dance in her own right. And evidences great cleverness and wisdom.
Amongst the surrealness and pain, let’s not forget the exhilarating dance routines. Not just the mesmerising choreography, but the backgrounds – a port, public transport, a football pitch, cityscape at night, etc. Think Wim Wenders’ PINA [2010] crossed with Gasper Noé’s CLIMAX [2018]. If there could be a 4K Blu-ray extra of just those sequences cut together, that would be fantastic. (Check out the music video for ‘REAL’ by E$tado Unido featuring Stéphanie Janaina (Ema Soundtrack).)
What happens when someone inadvertently detonates their own life, and then through sheer force of will and skill decides to put it back together in even better shape? EMA is intricate and mesmerising, containing gripping lead performances - especially Mariana Di Girolamo. Emotionally lacerating, offset by striking visuals and a pulse-quickening score, EMA and Ema are vibrant.
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