Vox Lux (2018)

VOX LUX  (2018)  ¢ ¢
    D: Brady Corbet
    Natalie Portman, Raffey Cassidy, Jude Law,
    Willem Dafoe, Jennifer Ehle, Stacy Martin
This movie starts out with a jolt. You're in a classroom in a school. It's a music class and the kids are just coming back from break, and the teacher is patiently waiting for them to file in and get their instruments out and settle down. It's business as usual, till a scruffy-looking kid with a buzz cut walks in and guns down the teacher at point-blank range. Then (offscreen) he shoots up the rest of the class. The scene has an almost documentary feel to it, and in this gun-crazy age of ours, it's more than enough to get your attention. It's creepy and disturbing and it's the high point of the film. As it turns out, one of the students who survives the shooting is an aspiring songwriter, and at a memorial a year later, instead of speaking, she performs one of her songs. The song goes viral and becomes a hit, the girl becomes a pop star, and - flash forward another 16 years - she's a glam-rock diva played by Natalie Portman. At that point, Natalie Portman acting like the drama queen from hell effectively takes over the movie, and while you kind of admire the actress for taking the risk, the character's unrelieved nastiness gets tiresome fast. The ending's inconclusive - a powerpop performance by Natalie choreographed by her husband, with lots of noise and pyrotechnics. What any of it's supposed to signify gets lost in all the glitter.