Released 20 JANUARY
ANTICIPATION.
Love a big blow out ‘ode to cinema’ venture. 4
ENJOYMENT.
Ambitious and occasionally dazzling, but unfocused, even down to the performances. 3
IN RETROSPECT.
The film’s big finale delivers a moment of deep, unalloyed cringe. 2
oviemaking can be a shitshow. Literally, if you’re Manuel ‘Manny’ Rayes (Diego Calva) who finds himself running, this means transporting an elephant up hill to a fancy party – a task complicated when the elephant has violent bout of diarrhoea. It’s a slapstick sequence which feels more in line with than a film about the transition from silent films to talkies, and serves as something of a warning for what audiences are in for over the next three hours.
