Worth streaming: Netflix films from Jolie, Gaga
Lady Gaga battles Stefani Germanotta for the spotlight in the new Netflix original documentary, “Gaga: Five Foot Two.”
Fans of the pop diva know Gaga is the stage name of Germanotta, though the film, directed by Chris Moukarbel, splits its time between Germanotta’s personal struggles and the pressures of being a celebrity.
Predictably, the stuff about being famous isn’t half as compelling as what Gaga allows people to see about her family, her health issues and how her music has evolved in recent years.
“Allows” is the appropriate word. While “Five Foot Two” does show Gaga in a few less-than-flattering situations, the film certainly protects its subject from too harsh of light, and Moukarbel occasionally goes out of his way to include celebratory and promotional material (the making of Gaga’s latest album “Joanne” is prominently featured).
When she does provide unfiltered access into her private life, “Five Foot Two” becomes a fascinating study of how physically and emotionally suffocating celebrity culture can be to even the most confident and talented artists (In case you didn’t think Lady Gaga was talented, there’s a phenomenal, stripped-down performance of “Bad Romance” here to convert the skeptics).
The most successful segment of the doc depicts Gaga sharing the song “Joanne” to her grandmother for the first time. It’s a deeply emotional sequence where a single camera pans between three people listening to a muffled song on a cellphone.
Compare that to a scene where Gaga addresses her public feud with Madonna. It’s hard to be compelled by such superficiality when “Five Foot Two” provides so much good meat (but not a meat dress).
Yet the choice of sharing both aspects of Lady Gaga’s life seems more than intentional. When you’re a pop star, the celebrity garbage seems to be chemically bonded to the art you’re trying to make. There isn’t time for the insecurities and stress and pain, but it comes anyway.
“Five Foot Two” probably won’t sway anyone who doesn’t like Lady Gaga. Her fans will embrace the personal stuff and her detractors will question the sincerity. As a Gaga fan, and as someone who was blown away by her poise and show(wo)manship at this year’s Super Bowl, I was captivated by the film’s climactic march to her halftime performance. It’s an honest enough look at a captivating subject.
The Gaga documentary makes for a fizzy palette cleanser for another recent Netflix original film. The narrative drama, “First They Killed My Father,” based on a memoir by Loung Ung, follows a young girl facing the trauma of the Khmer Rouge regime in 1970s Cambodia. After her entire family is uprooted into labor camps, Ung is forced to become a child soldier.
The film adaptation is written by Ung and Angelina Jolie, who also directed the project. It’s a devastating story, which Jolie depicts with striking cinematography and unshowy performances, particularly Sareum Srey Moch as young Ung. While it runs maybe 20 minutes too long, Jolie demonstrates a mastery of craft here that she’s shown only in bursts of her previous directorial efforts.
In some respects, Netflix seems like too small of an outlet for a movie like “First They Killed My Father.” Ung’s story of survival resonates and correlates to tragedies happening all around the world. The film will get an Oscar push (the subtitled film has already qualified for consideration in the Best Foreign Language Film category), but it feels strange for the movie to be “just another Netflix movie” release.
At least more people will see “First They Killed My Father” on the streaming service compared to even the most successful art house theatrical run. Hopefully Netflix doesn’t bury it with a few dozen comedy specials and episodes of “Fuller House” between now and the end of the year. That said, I liked the movie, and even I wrote more paragraphs about Lady Gaga.
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Tyler Wilson can be reached at twilson@cdapress.com