Annette is a good movie. Maybe. I'm pretty sure. I'm not sure. Yet. Possibly.
It seems like it has everything in a movie I would like. It's an original movie musical. I love GOOD movie musicals. The key word is GOOD. I think that they are very hard to get right. It is very easy to miss the target of creating an authentic experience. As I have said before, I am very engaged in live theatre. The "movie version of a broadway musical" route usually ends up making fans of both versions prefer the stage interpretation. Cut songs and cringey transitions into music can really be dealbreakers. Very few get it right. Some of my favorites are Tick, Tick... Boom! and Chicago. Maybe it's because they ACTUALLY got directors who had been in the musical theatre world and know how to translate it to screen.
For an ORIGINAL movie musical with no ties to a work on stage, anything is on the table. The audience will be watching a film with original music, so no one can get mad and compare it to anything else. The insane combination of Leos Carax directing an original movie musical using Sparks music and starring Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard was definitely interesting. Annette has some pretty wild concepts, and below are some of them:
- Marion Cotillard holding NOT a baby doll, but a DOLL BABY (Annette), who is completely sentient, a main character, and is not looked differently upon at all
- Adam Driver as a murderer, which is a common character for him, but this time he has short hair. Ahhh!
- Big Bang Theory's Simon Helberg in a dramatic role
^ This last one is actually the craziest. I watched this movie for the first time a year ago during finals week, and it was a pretty bad decision. This movie has so much to unpack, and there's so many visual cues and musical themes which will require multiple viewings to understand. I've kept battling in my mind whether it is a good movie, and I'm excited to rewatch it in the future when I'm not busy to form a better opinion after a year. Nevertheless, one part of it absolutely stuck with me. Ex-sitcom star Simon Helberg happens to have my favorite scene in the entire movie, and he isn't even singing:
To be blunt, I have decided that I will be using inspiration from this specific scene for my film opening. This is the scene I think about whenever I see someone mention something about Annette. Returning back to it now, this is exactly the idea that I need for my AICE Media project. The scene is all shot in one take and it is all filmed inside of a singular fixed location. Following this, I could experiment with longer takes without needing a large track for the camera to move. The camera continuously going around Simon's character is so simple but very engaging. I really love how the camera never stops moving and keeps the audience on its toes. The single shot still allows for a variety of compositions with how much the subject fills the picture. There is a switch in angles and framing across each "revolution" around the conductor. If I lean into that, it would allow me to show off some techniques I have learned in my AICE Media class. I will not be using the serious tone of the scene. I will not be using an orchestra, or a chorus, or Simon Helberg, unfortunately. I have other plans for the plot and genre, which I can explain in later blog posts. However, I am almost certain I will be using the same uninterrupted, ceaseless procedure used here. I am very excited.
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