4 stars
Carmen is one of the most exciting movies to hit screens in years, and it has nothing to do with any action scenes, car chases, or special effects. It’s exciting because the movie-making basics – acting, cinematography, and direction – are all on display on the big screen in unique and vibrant ways.
Directed by Benjamin Millepied in his big-screen debut, Carmen is the classic story of two unlikely lovers on the run trying to fight back against a world that wants to keep them apart. Unlike Romeo & Juliet, however, the lovers in Carmen – Carmen (Melissa Barrera) and her beloved Aidan (Paul Mescal) – aren’t being denied their love because of their parents. They’re actually on the lam from the law because of a murder on the Mexican border: Aidan killed his best friend, who was only at the border to get some target practice on a group of illegal immigrants trying to find a better life in America.
It’s a story that feels ripped out of today’s headlines, as the cliche goes, but the political punch of Carmen gets lost along the way. It’s the one weakness Millepied shows in his first film: it feels like he sacrifices story, or at least narrative, to capture a fantastic image. That may not be the case on a second viewing of Carmen, once the wow factor of watching what Millepied and cinematographer Jörg Widmer (The Invisibles) have created. And Carmen deserves that second viewing.
First, second, or tenth viewing, it will be impossible to imagine anyone else but Melissa Barrera in the lead. If your only experience of her work is playing Sam Carpenter in Scream movies, get ready for a revelation. Not only can Barrera sing and dance, but she commands the screen in every scene Carmen appears with an old-fashioned movie star quality.
Mescal is less vibrant than Barrera, at least in the first part of the movie. Aidan is sullen and barely speaks; it’s frustrating, but wait. The pacing of his performance matches the young man’s awakening as he slowly discovers a reason to live with the young woman he saved at the border. The scene when they bare their souls to each other in a breathtaking pas de deux in the desert puts such dance duets in just about any movie musical made in the past ten years to shame.
The youthful romantic celebration of its two lead actors makes Carmen feel geared toward a younger audience. Still, it must be pointed out that two pivotal characters in the movie are played magnificently by two mature women. First, there is flamenco artist Marina Tamayo as Zilah, the mother of Carmen. She may not have much screen time in Carmen, but her time before you will forever be burned into your heart.
And then there is the amazing Rossy de Palma as Carmen’s auntie, Masilda. She may look – and act – a bit goofy at first, but if Carmen and Aidan are the movie’s heart, it soon becomes clear that Masilda is its soul.
