In the spirit of the recent Oscar Awards, which took place on Sunday the second of this month, I will be recommending one of the nominees, "Emilia Pérez." It was nominated for best picture, best international feature film, best director, best adapted screenplay, best supporting actress, and best actress for the lead, Karla Sofía Gascón. She is the first openly trans actor to receive an Oscar nomination for her amazing performance.
The movie is about a lawyer based in Mexico City, played by Zoe Saldana, and the new, strange opportunity she has presented to her. She has been offered to represent a powerful drug cartel boss — with her transition. The only catch for the lawyer — she has to convince her employer’s family that the man they knew is dead, so Emilia Pérez can live on instead. Over the course of the movie, we follow the story of the newly retired drug lord, her family, and the lawyer helping her settle into her new life. But after five years, Pérez misses her children and has her family move in with her, posing as a distant aunt so as to not arouse suspicion. With this new life, and her family and her ex-lawyer turned best friend, she starts to correct the wrongs of her past, creating a company that helps numerous families in Mexico to find missing family members.
The concept of this movie and the way that they filmed it is so unlike anything else, having musical elements added into the drama and harrowing truth to the story. Everything is so real, and it really presents the idea of transgender people in a different light, having actual trans people playing the characters. It is so refreshing to have such positive representation of not only Queer people in such big movies, but also for Latinx people. The majority of the movie is in Spanish, including the show stopping musical numbers. Gascón depicts Pérez in such a visceral way, the struggle and pain of being transgender in this society is so tangible in her character. She presents a strong person who is still afraid to fully be themself because of the circumstances, as Pérez is only out to one person the whole film. The fact that this movie, one that is so focused on people of color and Queer people, especially at a time like this, is so important. It sends the message that we are here and not going away, in a way that is accessible, but still gets the message across in a bold front-and-center way.
I would strongly recommend this movie to anyone currently binging Oscar nominees, or if you are looking for something new and exciting. I couldn’t take my eyes off of the TV the whole two hours. "Emelia Pérez" is a wildly funny and thoughtful movie, that is unlike any other. This is one movie that really deserves to win.