Birthing: Friday Night's Film Review

From this very day, an hour of my Saturday mornings shall be dedicated to reviewing the film I watched the night before.

So, every Saturday, I'll sip my instant coffee, and splurge my caffeine-fuelled thoughts on a certain film all over the wide world web.

The first week's film shall be (drum roll please)...

Courtesy of IMDb stills.

HOUSE OF GUCCI, (Ridley Scott, 2021)

Stylish enough?

It's not often a film is simultaneously tedious and entertaining.

Of late, Ridley Scott has mastered this contraposition of a genre to perfection: contextually cool, often epic, but missing pizzazz, never ideal, when creating a biopic on a company priding itself on luxury and flair. The film, much like many post-2010 Scott films do, outstays its welcome.

You can argue that it's reductive and lazy analysis, to critique a film's length, and I will acknowledge your take and tell you that you are objectively wrong!

Lady Gaga's charismatic (well, Gaga) portrayal the infamous Patrizia Reggiani compliments Adam Driver's 'Maurizio' nicely, with Driver performing the introverted, seemingly kind-hearted heir to the Gucci throne. He smiles a lot too, which warmed my heart, despite my awareness that he was getting 'gold-dug'. It's quintessential Driver: he's calm, then he sulks, then he loses his cool- he does it exceptionally. It's also quintessential Gaga, and the plot offers just enough of a canvas on to which she can splatter her beautiful madness.

The performances are stellar, despite Jeremy Irons' half-hearted attempts to mask his painstakingly British accent; English prosody steams off his every line like a cup of earl grey. Not that this matters too much. One, it's Jeremy f***ing Irons, and two, a large portion of the film's failure to land can be put down to the 45 minutes it takes to adjust to a diverse fashion of Italian accents. Perhaps that's the reason for the long runtime, desensitisation?

It was never a surprise to me that the Gucci family themselves found Jared Leto's portrayal of Paolo Gucci to be 'offensive'. Backlash from members of the real life family being portrayed in film is often to be expected when production didn't form a healthy relationship with the Gucci's themselves. On this Backlash, Scott simply says: “I think a lot of [Leto’s performance] is comedic, Certainly for the first two acts...there’s not a lot of information about Paolo, but there are pictures of Paolo and that’s exactly what Paolo looks like." (The Independent, 2021)

Personally, I think Leto is fantastic in this film. He skews the narrative in a more absurd direction (which is where it should have gone), his eccentricity and onscreen chemistry with Al Pacino reminiscent to something more belonging in a Scorsese movie, or Super Mario Kart. Instead, we are expected to take sympathy on Paolo, and consequently, take him seriously.

Likewise, a lot of the problems in 'House of Gucci' are derived from the expectation the audience will take the film with upmost seriousness. Scott only nibbles on the hook of absurdity, dancing on the edge of extravagance without going full-Gucci. He should have gone full-Gucci!

I felt like I was watching a 2.5 hour exhibition of 'how great this acting is', than a plot with many real noteworthy moments or sequences, highs, or lows, therefore the inevitable climax falling a little flat.

The award for best dressed goes to Al Pacino, elegantly rocking rich three-pieces with ease, often complimented through a vibrant choice of tie. Pacino is closely followed by Gaga. (Patrizia's ski-suit will no doubt be at the top of my girlfriend's Christmas wish-list, despite her never picking up a pair of skis.) Ben fatto to the costume department.

To conclude:

'House of Gucci' is a catwalk of performance and character development, an entertaining ensemble film ironically hindered through a lack of style.