Oscar 2025 Contenders: Emilia Perez: A Tragic Song that too many didn’t bother to listen to

I’m not a fan of musicals, even quasi-musicals or whatever the updated versions are called. But I don’t know how you tell this story without resorting to a sort of magical reality that musicals evoke. I’m also not a fan of movies that might promote the idea that our neighbor to the south is just a crime ridden backwards sh*thole run by gangsters and drug lords. But, again, how do you tell this story without beginning there? I was impressed by the bravery of best-actress nominee, Karla Sofía Gascón, a transgender actress, for her decision to appear in the first act of the movie as a man. That takes guts. But, how do you tell this story with showing that?

It is an amazing story that is worth telling and worth watching, even if you are not a fan of musicals, like me. Sadly, it has become all more dangerous to tell this story now that our country has reverted to an uninformed 1930s understanding of gender and identity. It’s unfortunate that negative press related to old social media posts by Gascón have muddied the waters, no doubt in part because haters are going to hate and this movie was going to have a hard time capturing the country’s imagination and interest to begin with.

I love that Zoe Saldana won the best supporting actress award and made it a point to express her gratitude for her immigrant heritage and the bravery of those how came before us to make our lives in this country possible. Gascón was my second choice to win best actress and I feel delivered a better performance than this year’s winner, Mikey Madison. This movie was the first film I saw in my week-long Oscar movie marathon. It was a fun and taxing experience, to see these best-picture nominees back to back over the course of five days. “Emilia Perez” was the first 👍👍 One down, seven to go!

[Movie viewed on 2025-02-25 at Suncoast Cinemark with Deb].