Netflix And Chill: Emilia Pérez (2024)

I assure you that I had this scheduled for a viewing for some time before it came away as the big winner at the 2025 Golden Globes ceremony. Emilia Pérez ended up on my radar when it started to garner praise in the second half of last year, but I wasn't sure when I would get a chance to finally see it. That chance came around when it dropped on Netflix, but I ended up waiting a while as other feature films from 2024 continued to vie for my attention.

This is the story of the titular Emilia Pérez (Karla Sofía Gascón), who starts the movie as a cartel kingpin known as Manitas. Manitas wants to disappear, wants a whole new life, and wants their family to be safe. They enlist the help of a lawyer named Rita (Zoe Saldaña), and everything soon falls into place. Years pass, and Rita ends up working for her former employer once more, this time ensuring that her wife (Jessi, played by Selene Gomez) and children move in with her, offering the explanation that Emilia is a caring cousin of the apparently-dead Manitas. Emilia also looks to use her ill-gotten money to start helping those who have had their lives destroyed by crime and cartels, but things grow more complicated as she watches Jessi start moving on with her own life in a way that could lead to the family moving away.

There are a number of different elements here that are worthy of consideration. First of all, writer-director Jacques Audiard (although there are a number of other names involved here throughout the writing process) is someone who hasn't really made a bad movie yet, from the seven or eight that I have seen by now. Secondly, this is a musical. Third, and arguably the most important, is . . . well, I think I should use a whole new paragraph to discuss that.

As women try to make progress in Hollywood, and as other people start to push for representation in films and on TV, there's a reasonable argument made about leaving room for them to make mistakes. Equality will only be real when all film-makers have the same time and space as white male film-makers, who all tend to get another chance after delivering something that either under-performs or outright stinks. I would say that this also applies to the LGBTQ+ community, in general, and, to get to my point as it relates to this film, the portrayal of transgender characters. I wasn't really sure if Emilia Pérez really was about a trans woman, or whether it was about a criminal going to extreme lengths to move on from an old life. Both of those things could be true, or neither. Either way, Emilia Pérez isn't actually, from my own limited perspective, a film featuring a transgender lead character that stays focused on the transgender experience. It's actually very familiar territory, but that territory looks different with this main character at the heart of it. I would also say that it's not really that great a film, but I hope that it becomes one of many such films that keep pushing for equality and representation of those who would have previously not been so celebrated for their involvement, on either side of the camera, with these kinds of stories.

I cannot fault the cast, and particular praise should go to both Gascón and Saldaña. The former does a great job of showing how her new life provides a real mix of regret and relief, the latter goes through a very similarly turbulent journey for very different reasons. Gomez is also very good, but fares better when her character isn't as central to things as she becomes in the third act. Adriana Paz is the last person I have to mention, making a strong impression with her few scenes, showing a brilliant mix of vulnerability and self-protection that Emilia admires, and is moved by, and there's also a role for Édgar Ramírez that doesn't really let him do much.

The pacing works quite well for the 132-minute runtime, and the performances ensure that every scene has something compelling in it, but the songs never feel strong enough, moments of real creativity and visual flair are few and far between, and anyone who has seen more than a handful of films will know where things are going by the time we get to the halfway point (if not before).

Maybe that's why Emilia Pérez is worth celebrating though. Maybe it's a film with a transgender character at the heart of it that is happy to not be any kind of super-sharp and super-smart modern classic. Maybe it's progress to have a film like this that is just okay. Or maybe I'll need to revisit it one day, and perhaps see something more worthwhile in it.

6/10

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Prime Time: Hotel Transylvania: Transformania (2022)

With a lot of the key figures returning, and many of the voice actors reprising their roles (I cannot think of anyone I really missed from this adventure, which may say as much about them as it does about me), Hotel Transylvania: Transformania is clearly aiming to deliver more of the same fun for those who have enjoyed any of the previous three films in the series. And it succeeds.

Dracula (voiced by Brian Hull this time around) is getting on in years, which means he will soon be handing over his beloved hotel to his daughter, Mavis (Selena Gomez), but that means it also ends up being in the hands of her human partner, Jonathan (Andy Samberg). Knowing that his non-monster identity is a big problem for his father-in-law, Jonathan ends up volunteering for a process that will, to use the technical term, monsterfy him. That works, but it also turns a number of main monsters into normal humans, creating confusion and worry while everyone tries to rectify the situation.

The first full feature directed by either Derek Drymon or Jennifer Kluska, both having a wealth of experience in other main roles, this seems like a great way to ease into that role, considering the fun nature of the brand and the many cast members all having fun with their roles. There are three credited writers (Genndy Tartakovsky, returning from the third film, but making this one the first that he didn’t direct, Amos Vernon, and Nunzio Randazzo), and they have a great framework to work with, considering the canny casting of the main characters.

Alongside Hull, who sounds so much like Adam Sandler in the role that I didn’t realise the change until checking the credits, Samberg, and Gomez (and the focus is often on the first two as they work through the issues putting a strain on their relationship), you get fun turns from Steve Buscemi, David Spade, Keegan-Michael Key, Brad Abrell, Kathryn Hahn, and Fran Drescher. It’s also worth mentioning Jim Gaffigan, playing an enjoyably unhinged Van Helsing. Whether they have been in all of the preceding movies or they have stepped in to take over the voice of a character, everyone does great work.

The animation style is in line with everything we’ve seen before, and there are plenty of wonderful visual gags complementing the dialogue, which makes it hard to imagine fans of this series being disappointed with this instalment. None of the sequels were particularly necessary, and I don’t think they were animated classics, but each one was enjoyably silly and entertaining. And each one presented some enjoyable horror archetypes in a kid-friendly form, while also maintaining focus on some valuable life lesson at the heart of the comedy.

A slight step up from the last film, which was the weakest (but still amusing enough), I recommend this to those who have enjoyed any of the previous animated adventures of Drac and co.

7/10

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Ani-MAY-tion: Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation (2018)

Love or hate Adam Sandler, and most people fall firmly into the latter camp nowadays, it's hard to deny the easy appeal of the animated movie series that cast him in the role of Dracula. Almost every classic monster you can think of makes an appearance, the jokes are no less amusing for their obviousness, and everyone seems to be having fun doing their voice work.

This time around, after surviving the perils of seeing his daughter fall in love with a human (in the first movie) and then figuring out how to best be a grandparent (second movie), Dracula is taken on a holiday on a cruise ship. The whole gang is with him, of course, and there's an immediate connection between Drac and the ship's captain, Ericka (Kathryn Hahn).

Although not quite as good as the two films preceding it, this third adventure for "the Drac pack" has plenty packed in it to keep fans of the series amused. None of the characters are twisted into something they shouldn't be, mainly because that work was done in the first movie when the monsters realised they could get along with humans, and the straightforward plot has a couple of twists that you can see coming from the opening scenes and a finale that basically falls back on that old standard, a dance off.

Sandler is good in the lead role. In fact, I would say that most people will find him much more enjoyable as an animated Dracula than in his normal, live-action, guise. Selena Gomez and Andy Samberg are just as good, playing Drac's daughter and son-in-law, respectively. Hahn is good fun as the cruise captain with an obvious secret, and Kevin James, David Spade, Steve Buscemi, and a few others return to join the monster mash.

Also returning is director Genndy Tartakovsky, who has been at the helm since the first movie a few years ago. He also co-wrote the script, with Michael McCullers, which manages to keep focused on the leads while also providing a selection of amusing moments for each one of the main supporting characters.

If you enjoyed the previous Hotel Transylvania movies then you should enjoy this one. I'd prefer them to end it here, having already started creeping down the slope of diminishing returns, but I also know that I will watch any future instalments.

6/10

There's a good triple pack here.
Americans can pick it up here.