Well, hallelujah - first cinema this year!
Because of perpetual lockdowns and restrictions nobody was able to enjoy the cinema for months (but I still continued to pay my membership, in order to support them with my pennies) and when time finally arrived, guess what, I couldn't even get the darn tickets for this, because everything was sold out in advance. I phoned several cinemas to inquire how is that possible and they told me because cinemas are basically half capacity so it all gets sold out very quickly. Eventually I managed to find place and we felt like winning the lottery.
I am still not sure were we genuinely enjoying the movie or just being so happy to be in the cinema - "House of Gucci" turned out to be very entertaining, almost a comedy, although critics were not kind to Ridley Scott because at this point his huge legacy seems to loom over everything he does: because he has created "Alien", "Blade Runner", "Thelma & Louise", "Gladiator", "Kingdom of Heaven" and "The Martian" people expect that everything he does must be a first rate masterpiece and this one is not - it is very funny, very entertaining and campy but not masterpiece. The reason for it might be in a story itself - it is a saga about notorious Gucci family and how internal intrigues, squabble, manipulation and greed eventually ousted original members out of the company (to the point that the name stays but the owners are international conglomerates). The movie could have easily be made about any of the five characters on the poster - but it loses focus and wobbles here and there, because of the moral dilemma: in the heart of this story is Patrizia Reggiani who eventually ends up in the prison for arranging the murder of her husband. This is a true life crime story and its just not possible to focus only on a murderess, no matter what explanations and motives people think she might have had.
What happens, therefore is that the movie soars every time Reggiani (Lady Gaga) is onscreen and sinks when she is not. The rest of the Gucci men are fine (and with such cast, how can it be otherwise) but there is a huge difference when Reggiani's self-centred, sociopathic personality lit the screen and when she is off - Lady Gaga is perhaps too strong and seriously unbalances the movie. Another thing is a fake Italian accent that everybody tries to emulate: each actor has his own version of it and the results are laughable, specially considering these people are supposed to be family. So it all fairly quick turns into kind of comedy where actors are hamming it up big time and director loves it - starting with wonderful Jeremy Irons who overcooks his "sensitive aristocrat" shtick and nervously twitches upon hearing that Reggiani comes from truck driving business (and this is person who became rich by selling affordable fashion accessories, like handbags and wallets), Al Pacino who basically always plays the same intimidating rage, Salma Hayek as TV medium who milks her wealthy client and perhaps the best of all, Jared Leto as "idiot son" who is unforgettable and quite possibly the only true match for Gaga - he is deliciously nutty and so exaggerated that his turns are highlights of the movie. We were delighted with the movie and enjoyed it a lot - there is also a very interesting interview with Reggiani that you might like to check out here. And its interesting to see how the real characters looked, for example this is real Rodolfo Gucci (played by Jeremy Irons) who in his youth was quite dashing actor.
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