Maria (2024)

Maria

• I liked this much more than I thought I would. It’s not one that I was fully into, but I did enjoy it. The only reason I wanted to watch it is because of the Oscar buzz around Angelina Jolie’s performance, which she absolutely deserves. But we’ll get to that in a minute. The plot centers around Maria Callas, one of the most influential opera singers of the 20th century. It’s not really a biopic at all, though it does jump back and forth between the past and present. It was kind of like this year’s version of ‘Maestro’. The way it shows past events with her current state of mind was very similar to Bradley Cooper’s film. Because of the similarities, there were some moments that felt like I’d already seen them. But everything else was well done. I enjoyed learning things about someone I’d never heard of, and I’m definitely interested in learning more about Callas. Angelina Jolie does an amazing job, and her emotional range is very impressive. Not only that, but she did her own singing at times, which was spot on. She spent seven months learning how to sing opera, which shows, and she knocked it out of the park. All I’m saying is that she most certainly has an Oscar nomination coming her way. The rest of the supporting cast was great, too. The music was great, obviously using a lot of Callas’ music to help tell the story. The classical tone of it helps add to the moment, which made my heart swell several times. Lastly, the costume design was good, and stands out vividly in many scenes. Overall, this film was well made, though it doesn’t jump out as anything spectacular. Jolie is awesome though, and I’d recommend this to all musical/drama fans, especially if you like ones such as ‘Maestro’. This film is officially Berry Approved, so go watch it now!