Music (2021)

Directed by Sia. Starring Kate Hudson, Leslie Odom Jr., Maddie Ziegler, Héctor Elizondo, Mary Kay Place, Ben Schwartz, Brandon Soo Hoo, Tig Notaro. [PG-13]

Staggeringly misguided musical fantasy melodrama goes so very wrong in so very many ways that mere descriptions don’t fully do it justice (of the condemnatory variety). First and foremost is the insulting depiction of autism in the form of a goggle-eyed grinner named Music, as interpreted by Ziegler with a cluster of rehearsed physical tics and rapturous expressions. Then there’s the matter of what the movie is really up to, which is to use neurodivergence as a prop-slash-obstacle to the growth of the actual protagonist, a not-exactly-recovering-addict played by Hudson (shorn of hair and good sense) who is Music’s older sister and eventual guardian; she’d rather dump Music at the “people pound” than take care of the girl’s special needs, but a good-hearted Ghana-immigrant neighbor (Odom)—as much a contrived, one-dimensional plot device as Music—helps her find her way. Respite from the embarrassing performances and preposterous gadgetry of the tone-deaf script is provided by ten or so cloyingly precious pop songs visualized as fantasia music videos, which are grafted into random spaces, and hardly ever apply to the mushy narrative that precedes or follows the breaks. Directorial debut for popstar Sia; she also gets sole story credit, co-scripted and co-produced, and in case the marks of “vanity project” weren’t blindingly obvious yet, she also cameos as herself, a recording artist “without borders.” Juliette Lewis and Henry Rollins make brief appearances.

8/100