Vox - Lux

One cannot discuss Vox Lux without acknowledging its sonic landscape. The film features an original score by the legendary composer Scott Walker and original pop songs written by Sia.

The song, "Wrapped Up," becomes an anthem. It captures the zeitgeist of a wounded nation, launching Celeste from a victim of tragedy to a figure of hope. Corbet directs this first act with a somber, almost documentary-like austerity. We see the machinery of the music industry clicking into gear, capitalizing on the nation's sorrow. The tragedy becomes a brand; the healing becomes a product. Vox Lux

is where Corbet intentionally loses many viewers. Celeste (now played by Natalie Portman with a brutal, unhinged Staten Island accent) is a global pop star on the eve of a comeback concert. She’s also a mess: recovering from spinal surgery, fighting with her sister/manager (a superb Jude Law), and raising a daughter who seems to be a clone of her worst traits. One cannot discuss Vox Lux without acknowledging its

In the pantheon of 21st-century films about fame, few are as audaciously bleak or formally ambitious as Brady Corbet’s 2018 epic, Vox Lux . On its surface, the film—starring Natalie Portman in a tour-de-force performance and Raffey Cassidy in a haunting dual role—appears to be a straightforward rise-and-fall music biopic. But to label it as such would be a profound understatement. Vox Lux is not merely a movie about a pop star; it is a scorched-earth treatise on the relationship between American violence, media consumption, trauma, and the hollow, industrial machinery of modern celebrity. It captures the zeitgeist of a wounded nation,

Critics were deeply split on Vox Lux, with some calling it an "insidious little masterpiece" and others finding it too cynical.