'Emilia Perez' is the weirdest musical you'll ever see

This is by far the weirdest musical I have ever seen. It’s mostly in Spanish so you have to read it. It watched the Golden Globes and "Emilia Perez" won four awards. Zoe Saldana won best supporting female performance in a comedy/musical. "El Mal" won best original song. Incidentally “El Mal” means “the bad.” The movie won best film in a foreign language and best film in a musical/comedy. Actually, I was shocked. I thought “Wicked” would have won best movie in a musical/comedy; it was so much better.

In Mexico, a black female lawyer, Rita, who works for a large law firm feels used and exploited. Needless to she is looking for a way out but as a black woman with no money to start her own firm she doesn’t see a path to success. Unexpectedly she is offered a client and money. The head of a drug cartel, Juan Del Monte known as Manitas “little hands” offers her a deal she can't refuse. He wants to retire from his business and disappear forever. Manitas plans to stage his own death and become a woman: Emilia Perez.

Zoe Saldana is Rita. Karla Sofia Gascon stars as Emilia. Gascón also plays the drug lord before Emilia's transition. She used prosthetics and makeup to transform into Manitas, a process that took three hours. Selena Gomez is Jessi, Manitas wife and the mother of his two boys. Adriana Paz is Epifania, a woman Emilia has an affair with and claims to love. Emiliano Hasan is Gabriel Mendoza.

The acting and singing are excellent.

French Director, Jacques Andiard, not only directed but also was one of the writers on the script along with Thomas Bidegain.  

Andiard tried to do too much in the script. I am not sure why he introduced Epifania into the script. It seemed strange to me and kind of made the story stray away from the main storyline. It was a very dark story to put to music.  Even “West Side Story” and “Les Miserable” aren’t this dark.

The soundtrack was beautiful. Clément Ducol composed the original score, while French singer Camille wrote the original songs.

“Emilia Perez” can be seen on Netflix. It is R rated for language, some violent content and sexual material. Do not show this film in front of children. I give it two stars.