Música, 2024.
Written and Directed by Rudy Mancuso.
Starring Camila Mendes, Rudy Mancuso, J.B. Smoove, Francesca Reale, Maria Mancuso, Gabriela Amerth, Bianca Comparato, Milly Guzman, and Regina Schneider.
SYNOPSIS:
A coming-of-age love story that follows an aspiring creator with synesthesia, who must come to terms with an uncertain future, while navigating the pressures of love, family, and his Brazilian culture in Newark, New Jersey.
Whenever Rudy (Rudy Mancuso, responsible for everything from the script and direction to the music in an undeniably ambitious project for a first-time filmmaker) is in conversation, his head often turns to the side as if his mind is wandering somewhere else. Rest assured, he isn’t intentionally trying to dismiss or ignore the person he is talking to, but he has a condition called synesthesia, meaning that he experiences all sounds as rhythmic. Mancuso takes an imaginative musical style approach to depict this on-screen in Música, succeeding with the idea and less when it comes to execution; it’s mostly twisting and turning with the background characters banging on everything from garbage cans to moving chess pieces, creating a soundtrack, never fully taking off as rousing musical numbers.
More unique is that Rudy, who is studying a digital marketing college class at the behest of his mother Maria (played by Maria Mancuso, implying that these character dynamics are most likely truthful in addition to this being an “unfortunate” true story), insisting on him becoming an entrepreneur like herself and open up a record store, hangs out in a New York subway, putting on puppet shows in exchange for monetary scraps. It is something he would like to turn into a livable career, even if his mother and future-obsessed girlfriend Haley (Francesca Reale) don’t see the appeal. Creating more friction within this otherwise tight mother-son bond, Maria disapproves of Haley and would prefer Rudy to date a Brazilian woman.
It’s one of the many sitcom-reminiscent dynamics at play in a film that refuses to do anything prolonged with its concepts that are actually interesting and vibrant. There also comes a point when one wonders if Música would have been more engaging or unique telling its narrative strictly through puppeteering, with some flourishes (for whatever reason, Rudy has amusing back-and-forth banter with one of his puppets when faced with tough life decisions to make) and entire scenes giving more weight to that point.
That has to be brought up because Música quickly transitions into a rather dull love triangle, with Rudy meeting Isabella (Camila Mendes), who is much more supportive of his puppeteering ambitions (frequently encouraging him to take his performances up top) and an understanding of his synesthesia. Regarding music, there is one strong sequence here with Rudy guiding Isabella into his mind, with the camera cutting back and forth into the different sounds and rhythms that come together to make what is essentially a soundtrack of life. She can’t understand what he is hearing, but she instantly has a breakthrough in feeling what he is hearing.
Aside from that, the “unfortunate” part of the true story turns out to be that Rudy panics so much that he inexcusably is unable to sort his feelings and relationship status out to each girl privately, spending copious amounts of time with each of them. This is something that culminates into a Mrs. Doubtfire-like double date that spirals into disaster, which turns out to be the best seen in the film, not because of that story element, but rather Rudy interacting with a restaurant musician who also has synesthesia, each of them using noises and rhythms to communicate back and forth. Basically, he keeps telling Rudy he is an idiot and that this is going to backfire, which is something we already know. Rudy doesn’t have to be likable for the movie to work, but it also doesn’t help to have a movie that sidelines its imaginative aspects to go straight down derivative and bland romantic comedy territory.
Strange detours also occur, such as a gunshot wound taking Rudy to the hospital, which feels awkwardly forced just to get a musical number into a new type of location. It doesn’t work, primarily because the whole angle of the characters being in the worst part of New Jersey and getting shot is played for laughs. Give credit to Rudy Mancuso for trying to put a cultural and musical-adjacent synesthesia spin on this with Música, but the generic aspects throw that identity out of sync.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association and the Critics Choice Association. He is also the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check here for new reviews, follow my Twitter or Letterboxd, or email me at MetalGearSolid719@gmail.com
