Lola
Lola
Overseeing the most recent Flora George film project titled Lola, Nicola Peltz Beckham managed to create something suitable for Twitter’s dislike mob. The audience sees a drug addicted teenage girl being tormented by her overly religious mother, and this girl also happens to be the protagonist, left with no other options but to take care of her younger brother. Not to mention the heroine is mentally ill herself and suffers from drug addiction. As we can probably tell by now, the film is about Lola. Which is a lot about acceptance and strength.
Considering that Peltz Beckham is the one who created the character of Lola, she does not seem to be in the picture of this character. Even, definitely unexplored filmmakers’ universal narratives encompass the wide range of lived experiences which combine to affect much of the audience appeal till ‘Lola’ seems to do. At some times, the film turns to be somewhat of a soft entertainment within violent boundaries due to its unending lank scenes. About the acting, the attempt of Virginia Madsen’s portrayal of a rough mother has in fact some limitations due to the nature of the storyline. Overall, the characters were flat mainly due to chemistry.
The visuals of ‘Lola’ portray a music video with bright shades and a famous song playing in the background. DOP Madeline Leach sweeps in with intense emotions captured from intimate close-ups but this is nicely balanced by her more vivid colors where we see how Lola survives her bleak world. These soft touches combined with the rest of the film, which is a visual eye candy, feel quite disappointing and do not balance out the script’s flaws.
Letdowns, eh? Among them is the under-examination of the character of Arlo, the younger brother of Lola who due to their mother’s religious tenets is denied the freedom to explore his gender and sexuality. Although at first it was settled he was to be one of Lola’s motivations to broaden one’s horizons, there is nearly no focus on Arlo’s character development; it follows the template emancipation of Lola. Cruelly enough, just as Arlo promises to be a fulsome character, his arc is cut suddenly (spoilers, don’t worry!).
How unfortunate because that’s how most of the movie is; Peltz Beckham appears to have something to say, a several points to make, only to drop the ball in the previous instance and subsequent sequences. It begs the question – Was it because she does not have sufficient knowledge of this universe to actually realize what the cinematic world is ?
In an attempt to provide some coherence to the oven story, Peltz Beckham took some downright ballsy & adventurous choices and whether they add value to the intended point or focus of the movie the audience will eliminate, these are some great explicit options. Such Details, to the point of being even a damp squib and playing the role of trauma bonds and shocks more elements than perhaps intended.
Let us not forget that nuance could just as well have a very strong emotional effect on the audience so deciding to go for spectacle – such a bold choice anyway – seems to be quite excessive and too much to the point of clashing with other elements.
Of course, Peltz Beckham is able to create a more interesting one in the future, hopefully one that deals with topics she is passionate about. I, for one, look forward to it – Peltz Beckham’s ambition and stylistic-flair would make the cinema all the more colorful.
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- Genre: Drama
- Country: United States
- Director: Nicola Peltz Beckham
- Cast: Nicola Peltz Beckham, Raven Goodwin, Richie Merritt