@Courtesy of Sundance Film Festival<\/p>\n
The First feature-film directed by Giselle Bonilla is a dark comedy focused on Doug (Will Brill), a middle-school teacher and wanna-be playwright, that turns into exploring his dark side when he finds out his ex-girlfriend and colleague Abigail (Gillian Jacobs) is dating the school\u2019s principal Brady (Rob Lowe). Which could be the best way to take revenge for what he perceives like a betrayal? Obviously using his young students, specifically making them bring onto stage a play that will destroy the institute\u2019s good reputation.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n At the beginning, The Musical<\/strong> owns a quite intriguing start: behind the gentle tone and the soft pace developed in the first scenes, there is a cynicism and bitter characters that remind of some Tood Solondz movies like Welcome to the Dollhouse<\/strong>, or Election<\/strong> by Alexander Payne. The director uses the editing in order to create a slightly surreal tone, which perfectly matches with Will Brill\u2019s style of acting. In fact even if the pitch doesn\u2019t strike as anything particularly original, nonetheless the protagonist has the right face and body language to play the classic \u201cMr. Nobody\u201d, a man frustrated with his own life but incapable of improving his situation, and consequently projecting his pain onto everyone around him. In addition to that, Giselle Bonilla shows that she is a deep movie lover, using a discreet amount of irony for referencing in her work masterpieces like The Shining<\/strong> by Stanley Kubrick, Apocalypse Now<\/strong> by Francis Ford Coppola and Dead Poets Society<\/strong> by Peter Weir.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/ins>\n The premises for The Musical<\/strong> to become a dazzling movie were quite there, but unfortunately after a good first twenty minutes or so, it seems the director doesn\u2019t want to make a clear choice about what kind of tone she wants to develop or even explore. There are in fact a few moments when this could turn into\u00a0 a gripping psychological drama, seasoned with effective horror nuances. The problem is Bonilla doesn\u2019t seem to have the courage to go deeper in this kind of genre rabbit hole, instead prefers to keep the plot and the tone into a more subtle kind of storytelling, missing the chance to create something courageous.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The best quality of The Musical<\/strong> in the end is the way Giselle Bonilla directs her cast. Gillian Jacobs doesn\u2019t have a character that really sticks in your mind, but fills it with the necessary gentle touch. Rob Lowe is a quite fine actor when it\u2019s about portraying characters who are shallow, embracing the emptiness of their role in society. He is the perfect antagonist for Will Brill, who is by far the best in show. With his face that seems made of rubber and those grumpy eyes capable of saying everything without expressing anything, he looks like a distant nephew of Buster Keaton. If he had to deal with a character that would have been more developed in order to explore its dark corners, it could have been a performance to remember.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n