Vox Lux

THE GIST: Celeste, a teenage girl, survives a shooting at her high-school and sings at the following memorial. Her heartfelt performance catches the eye of a talent manager, who signs her and her songwriter sister. Celeste's career takes off, turning her into an icon and a world famous pop-star overnight. After her career cools off, now a mother, Celeste attempts a comeback, but nagging addiction issues, her daughter growing up, the demands of maintaining her highly curated image, and the strenuous requirements of touring, all take a toll on her mind and body. Her reaction to another terrorist attack only makes everything worse.

Vox Lux has a lot of potential but suffers from what is perhaps an unfocused execution.

The ideas of using a very topical and tragic event like a school shooting and of analyzing what success can do to a person are good, but somewhere the narrative gets lost.

Natalie Portman does an excellent job, flanked by the always great (and always dashing) Jude Law, Stacy Martin, Jennifer Ehle, Raffey Cassidy, Christopher Abbot, and Meg Gibson, so the acting isn't the issue.

There are even original songs created by none other than Sia, so the music aspect is fine too.

THE BOTTOM LINE: Ultimately, good ideas and fine acting aren't able to salvage this leaking vessel. Too bad.

Grade: 4.5