Music Review: Sia's Disastrous Directorial Debut Is An Offensive And Disjointed Look At Autism
- naterichard98
- Feb 16, 2021
- 2 min read
DIRECTED BY: SIA STARRING: KATE HUDSON, LESLIE ODOM JR, & MADDIE ZIEGLER
RATED PG-13 FOR THEMATIC CONTENT, DRUG MATERIAL, BRIEF VIOLENCE AND STRONG LANGUAGE
LENGTH: 107 MINUTES
It's hard not to talk about popstar Sia's directorial debut Music without talking about the mountain of controversy surrounding it. Before the film was even released, the film received a large amount of backlash from the Autism community, specifically around Sia casting neurotypical actress and dancer Maddie Ziegler in the role of the film's severely autistic lead. After being called numerous times online, Sia refused to back down throwing hostile remarks back at the criticism. The film rose back to prominence after the film received two nods at this year's Golden Globes: one for Best Picture- Musical or Comedy and the other for Best Actress-Musical or Comedy for Kate Hudson, despite the film's largely negative critical reception.
Music follows Zu (Hudson), a newly sober drug-dealer who after the death of her grandmother is made the legal guardian of her severely autistic half-sister Music (Ziegler). Music sees the world differently from everyone else and pictures everything as if it's a colorful artsy music video, complete with crazy costumes and vibrant sets. Over the course of her journey Zu and Music form a strong relationship with their neighbor Ebo (Leslie Odom Jr.) a kind soul who understands their pain.
First and foremost, Music was likely made with the best of intentions, you'd be hard-struck to believe that Sia intentionally meant to mock those who are on the spectrum. Though the film's execution is misguided in every sense of the word. The film portrays Music as if she's a circus clown from her facial motions, to her movements, and from how Ziegler was told to portray the character. It's unsurprising that Ziegler was reportedly uncomfortable playing the character, so it'd be unfair to cast the blame on her acting.
The overall film just feels directionless and disjointed, while Sia may be talented in her music, here her filmmaking style feels aimless. The film's music-video-esque scenes add little to the film's overall story and after awhile become quite irritating. Even for how well choreographed as they are, it quickly becomes a distraction to the film's overall story and there's no subtlety in how Sia inserts them into the film. The story itself is as emotionally manipulative as they come, the narrative moments often feel like they're ripped straight out of a hokey music video rather than an actual film.
The only two saving graces of the film are the performances by Hudson and Odom. It's clear that both of them are trying their hardest to make the film work, but unfortunately the film's direction and writing definitely drags their performances down a few notches. The film is simply not their fault, there's not an actor out there who could have made this film work.
Music is an absolute disaster and one that's not only offensive but also poorly made. Regardless of the good-intentions, this was simply a film that shouldn't have been made and will likely offend a great number of it's target audience.
1/5 Stars
Music is now available to rent and buy on-demand.
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