Gaga named one of the best performances of 2021 by Roger Ebert

[Meat 18,962]

For those of you who are unfamiliar, Roger Ebert is one of the most prestigious critics websites and their founder remains the only film critic in history to win a Pulitzer Prize.
 

Here’s Gaga‘a profile: 

“If Lady Gaga were to retire from acting tomorrow, she would have one of the most significant filmographies of any actor in the 21st century. Her sophomore performance in Ridley Scott's “House of Gucci” as Patrizia Reggiani is like the dark flip side of her luminescent work in Bradley Cooper's “A Star is Born,” which announced her as a singular on-screen presence who could give us a movie star’s mega-wattage presence, and also a completely unpretentious portrait of someone who still lives with their parents. She explores these qualities again with “House of Gucci” on a grandiose and darker scale—she is completely at ease with eager, fidgety energy, the look of falling in love, just as much as when she is masking her desperation for security with an ice-cold glare against her husband Maurizio Gucci’s new lady friend. Her presence is classic and singular at once: the impossible-to-break gaze of eyes that cameras are made for, whose emotional calibration always makes sure we never forget where a character has come from, what they are truly fighting or. While "House of Gucci" lets other actors splatter paint over the Gucci logo, Lady Gaga's authenticity reckons with nothing less than the phenomenon of passion. 

Lady Gaga gives us so much to see; as a stage performer she knows how to use her body to take you even deeper, and when to do it so it shows you just how alive the soul is on-screen. In “A Star is Born,” it is the eureka moment when she is pushed to introduce “Shallow” on stage—the words of the chorus escape from her, she’s crossing the threshold into being a music legend, and suddenly her hands raise to cover her eyes. In “House of Gucci,” it’s at a moment when her persona of humility has now transformed into desperation to keep the sense of security she has fought for since trying to win a date with Maurizio. Baited by her co-star Jared Leto in a hammy scene, he tells her to cross her heart and hope to die. She does, with dialogue that perfects her character’s allegiance: “Father, Son, and House of Gucci.” It’s the movie’s best line, and its most sincere and revealing moment, and it's the movie's title, and apparently she made it up. Up to that point, Lady Gaga had given us a rich, compassionate arc to show how Patrizia got to this cult-ish, gaudy point of no return, and she still moves and surprises us, though it’s obvious she always will. In the wise words of “House of Gucci”: she will be queen.”

https://www.rogerebert.com/features/24-great-performances-of-2021

[Celloo Deng 54,997]

[QUEENH 711]

Sadly, Roger passed away some years ago but I think he would have enjoyed Gaga too. I miss his style of film criticism. The hacks on twitter are like teenagers vying for attention and clout. 

[Rahrahbitchson 19,798]

One of the best performance of 2021 bxtch i laugh, SHE IS THE BEST PERFORMER OF THE CENTURY PERIOD

[HuffsAhoy 7,433]

Such high praise, I live for this applause!!

[Frankenztein 1,172]

Um...Roger Ebert is dead. Different critics and editors now write on his website. Whoever wrote has good taste though. 

[elijahfan 26,177]

3 minutes ago, Frankenztein said:

Um...Roger Ebert is dead. Different critics and editors now write on his website. Whoever wrote has good taste though. 

I agree it can be misleading, but the OP never states anywhere that Roger Ebert himself wrote the piece.

[Meat 18,962]

6 minutes ago, Frankenztein said:

Um...Roger Ebert is dead. Different critics and editors now write on his website. Whoever wrote has good taste though. 

I clearly mentioned Roger Ebert the “website” 

[monstrosity 3,943]

49 minutes ago, Meat said:

Father, Son, and House of Gucci.” It’s the movie’s best line, and its most sincere and revealing moment, and it's the movie's title, and apparently she made it up

Queen 

[CannaeDrive 3,412]

So much tea flowing from these truth unraveling words 

[Frankenztein 1,172]

4 hours ago, Meat said:

I clearly mentioned Roger Ebert the “website” 

Yes, I may not of read the post well enough, but I think what threw me off was the title of the thread. 

"Gaga named one of the best performances of 2021 by Roger Ebert" makes it sound like it came from Ebert risen from the grave himself (I wish). Since his name is the website name. Regardless, thank you for sharing. 

[freebit 6,240]

Wow, that write-up is lovely.   That last part  I had never even considered that ablibbed line ("Father, Son, House of Gucci") tied into Patrizia's near creedence with being a Gucci. There's so many layers I'm still discovering with her performance. I love when reviews make me discover things even further than I had before. 

On a different note, it makes me a bit wistful because I'm not sure she's ever had as much praise as a musician than she's had as an actor. It's always backhanded compliments & begrudging praise from music critics. Ugh.

Also, FYI for those who don't follow these things: RogerEbert.com is a high quality site full of good reviewers, they're not just letting anyone write on there. Ebert cultivated a following and a mentorship with so many talented younger writers on the site years before his death (he even had a show too where these younger critics often reviewed movies). There was a really amazing reviewer that I wished still wrote about movies who I feel could've been the next Ebert or Pauline Kael, but she got into filmmaking last I read.

[Arloway 147]

It's such a shame that the film was so bad and Gaga's excellent performance could go down with it. The praise for her just never stops.  If the film is moderately good then Gaga will be a lot stronger in the Oscar race. Not saying winning the Oscar is the only important thing, just saying it'll be so nice for her to get rewarded(as she deserves). 

I appreciate both Ridley and Bradley for trusting Gaga and helping her with the acting career, but I think they both did her dirty in terms of script and movie quality. ASIB was so focus on Jack's downfall and Ally was just there, not the center of the story. And I sense that Ridley didn't pay as much attention and work to HoG as he did to his other project, the Last Duel. Had he & his team be more serious about HoG, the film wouldn't get so much criticism. 

[GreenDiamond 6,286]

I bet he saw papprazi 2009 VMA perfomance!

[LilyLark 10,104]

On 12/27/2021 at 3:58 PM, freebit said:

Wow, that write-up is lovely.   That last part  I had never even considered that ablibbed line ("Father, Son, House of Gucci") tied into Patrizia's near creedence with being a Gucci. There's so many layers I'm still discovering with her performance. I love when reviews make me discover things even further than I had before. 

On a different note, it makes me a bit wistful because I'm not sure she's ever had as much praise as a musician than she's had as an actor. It's always backhanded compliments & begrudging praise from music critics. Ugh.

Also, FYI for those who don't follow these things: RogerEbert.com is a high quality site full of good reviewers, they're not just letting anyone write on there. Ebert cultivated a following and a mentorship with so many talented younger writers on the site years before his death (he even had a show too where these younger critics often reviewed movies). There was a really amazing reviewer that I wished still wrote about movies who I feel could've been the next Ebert or Pauline Kael, but she got into filmmaking last I read.

It really was a great write up. Bilge Ebriri also said in his latest bit for Slate (he usually writes for NY Mag/Vulture, like the guy who wrote up Gaga) that he loved Gaga in Gucci so much that he volunteered to write up a piece for her for the NYFCC awards.

You know...that's an interesting viewpoint about music critics. I do feel like music critics tend to be passive aggressive, but I almost feel like they are...equal opportunity in terms of sh*t talking and willing to change their minds? People who dragged Taylor three years ago will (fairly) review her work now. It might be a genre thing, though, too, as music critics defn. tend to respect certain genres more than others. 

I almost feel like film critics, in some ways, are worse in that they tend to single out a handful of actors and can be very, very condescending about them (Rami, Gaga to a lesser extent, Jared, etc.). Granted, the ones I'm talking about are active on twitter...there's clearly a large swath of not very twitter active critics who do appreciate Gaga without being patronizing (or else NYFCC and the other critics nods wouldn't happen). Also, it may just be a film twitter thing in general: there's been a lot of condescending comments about people who didn't care for Licorice Pizza, etc. I'm not a fan of Adam McKay, I thought Don't Look Up was decent but not great, and I think Adam's being a d*ck about the critics...but the critics who are still having a fit on twitter about him & the film are another example of them being patronizing. I hate using the term "elitist" as that is sort of Trumpian, but imo a lot of film critics are that way...even more so than music critics. And this is coming from someone who adores foreign films and indies (the type of fare one might deem elitist).