zoe saldana

If you’re looking for something truly different, watch French filmmaker Jacques Audiard’s daring operatic drama Emilia Perez. Set against the brutality of Mexico City’s drug cartels, it’s the story of Juan ‘Manitas’ Del Monte, a swarthy, cigar-smoking, middle-aged kingpin – married with two young children – who yearns to be a woman. To achieve that end, he hires Rita Moro Castro (Zoe Saldana), an overworked, overlooked criminal defense attorney, to discreetly arrange his highly risky gender reassignment surgery in Switzerland, eventually emerging as the titular Emilia Perez (Karla Sofia Gascon), leaving his angry yet adoring wife Jessi (Selena Gomez) to believe he’s dead.

Emilia Pérez combines humor, suspense, and violence in a musical. Facing personal threats, Mexican cartel kingpin Manitas del Monte decides his only escape from his violent, dysfunctional life is to transition to a woman. Manitas compels the shocked lawyer Rita to find a qualified doctor to pursue his escape from an ugly life of crime. To reveal any more of the marvelous twists and turns would ruin the exhilarating roller coaster ride blending humor, suspense, violence, multiple shocks, plus fabulous singing and dancing. Director Jacques Audiard segues seamlessly through genres, whisking the audience through characters’ stunning array of emotions.

Fearless and unflinching, writer-director Jacques Audiard’s bold fever dream of a movie colors outside the genre lines. Emilia Perez is unlike any conventional cartel crime thriller that’s gone before. It’s a comic-tinged wild ride with romance, desire, redemption and a dark side all put into play. One of the most audacious films of the year, look for it to be on many shortlists for its bravura filmmaking and triumphant acting.

Emilia Perez is one of those movies you just have to see. It will leave you speechless whether you like the film or not. No description will do it justice, it’ll only make you question what was Audiard thinking…or smoking? But with a dearth of fresh ideas in Hollywood, you have to give Emilia Perez creativity flowers as well as kudos to the entire cast who were able to bring one man’s surreal fantasy to fruition.