Vox Lux

Irreverent, dynamic, and portentous; the picture it paints of the increasingly indistinguishable divide between celebrity and notoriety isn't pretty though

Bill O'Reilly: You can take some of your lyrics, such as, "You'll understand when I'm dead." I mean, disturbed kids could take the lyrics and say, "you know, when I'm dead, everybody's going to know me."

Marilyn Manson: Well, I think that's a very valid point, and I think that that's a reflection of, not necessarily this program, but of television in general - if you die and enough people are watching, then you _become a martyr, you become a hero, you become well-known. So when you have things like Columbine and you have these kids that are angry and they ha...

I think Natalie Portman pulls this off well. Her portrayal of the talented but self-destructive rock star rings true of many a tale written of real talent that has got lost in the blurred existence between reality and notoriety - and that's without the additional repercussions of having been the survivor of a shooting at school. Does it trivialise the relationship between terrorism (or gun-toting insanity) and pop music or does it demonstrate the essential need for the latter to go on regardless of the former? Brady Corbet has come in for some stick for his tackling of this, but I feel that harsh - this does make one think and perhaps test our own sense of values and principles. It will continue to divide opinion, but is none the worst for that.