Am I on crazy pills? This being billed as an Oscar contender must be because of subject matter and messaging alone because this movie is a mess and laughably bad. It hops all over the place, the cinematography is so ugly and pushed so close into the scenes and character faces, and the music had nothing standout. Lots of big ideas that are half baked. The ending is also so rushed and silly.

Besides giving us the privilege of a great Zoe Saldana performance where she isn't blue or green, and some outstanding cinematography (lots of interesting camera movement, the lighting is superb), this is pretty much a total trainwreck. It's certainly not for a lack of effort, as there's a pretty bold combination going on here between Baz Luhrmann, Pedro Almodovar and Denis Villeneuve's _Sicario_. However, none of these stylings comes together as the tone of this movie is completely disjointed and all over the place. All the songs are way too cheesy, lacking in good compositional elements, catchy melodies or interesting performances (the mixing choices whenever it switches from dialogue to music are also really distracting). Wouldn't it be more intuitive if the music was hip-hop or rock inspired, given the crime theme? The songs here tend to have that whimsy Disney vibe, and right from the scene in Thailand where transgender operations are portrayed as this funny, quirky thing, I knew this was going to be a rough ride. Not only is the scene hilariously misguided, but it's also a taste of what's to come. Eventually the film starts to draw this metaphorical parallel between transgenders and crime bosses trying to better their lives, it feels very odd to say the least (I'd argue these aren't comparable in the slightest). Add to that the 'you can't escape your past' message it hammers home during the third act, and it all just feels very unfortunate and tasteless by the end. On top of that, the characters remain quite underdeveloped throughout (what's Rita's motivation?; why does the filmmaker expect me to feel empathy for Emilia?; who is Jessi?) and Selena Gomez proves once again that she's not a great actress. Overall, one of the worst Oscar frontrunners to come out in a very long time. I couldn't help but think of _Crash_ for a multitude of reasons. 3/10

It's a musical with mediocre songs that tries to portray a positive image of Israel, a country that does not support same-sex marriage and doesn't even stand out in the field of plastic surgery. The use of Spanish is so poor that it has become a meme in Latin America. The movie aims to be innovative and daring but ends up being the complete opposite.

I watched this film prior to realising how damaging it is to the Trans community, and for that I am apologetic. I fear that the traction that this film is getting throughout the award season could be irrevocably damaging to the trans community. As far as musicals go, this one is quite frankly terrible without a decent song in its 2hr 12mins runtime. There were interesting scenes but it was incredibly disjointed and confusing at times. The disinformation and the facts included in this movie are dangerous, and the fact that the academy is looking at this movie through a 'woke' lens despite the Trans character basically being disregarded in this film is truly disappointing. Elsewhere, the acting is potentially the only redeeming factor this film has rating wise. - Zoe Saldana really puts on a show here.

A disappointing film that is among the worst of the director. The banal treatment of sex reassignment, the paternalistic view of Latin American social problems, the poor quality of too simple songs... Zoe Saldaña is extraordinary and Kala Sofía Gascón very convincing, but the transposition of the soap opera melodrama with the wrapping of a musical thriller ends up being too ridiculous at times. The denunciation of femicide is too distant due to a simple script with poorly developed characters and the message is blurred in the middle of a brave but failed proposal.