Amazon's new Melania Trump documentary directed by Brett Ratner, 'Melania: Twenty Days to History,' fails on virtually every level.
starts with a long drone shot above the Atlantic Ocean. The camera glides over a white sand beach, a pool, a golfing green, before swooping down over the reclaimed terracotta tile roof of Donald Trump’s private Palm Beach club, Mar-a-Lago, all while the Rolling Stones’ “Gimme Shelter” blasts in the background.
A motorcade of black SUVs steam by, en route to an airport, where the doors are flung open and a stilettoed heel steps out onto the tarmac., promoting the idea that she is anything other than the pitiable wife of one the most polarizing men on the planet. But the film, despite the tens of millions of dollars poured into its production and promotion byMGM Studios, falls far short of that goal while also failing to offer an iota of insight into its subject. It’s a shame, because in the right hands, this could have been not just a great film but an important historical artifact. Directorhad practically unlimited funds at his disposal and virtually unrestricted access to the enigmatic partner of one of most consequential figures in American history. Gifted that opportunity, Ratner uses it to ask such probing questions as “Who is your favorite musical artist?” Ratner appears to revel in his proximity to power rather than use that proximity to learn anything about it. In the early hours of the morning following the president’s second inauguration, he uses a few minutes alone with the first couple to marvel: “I can’t believe we’re in the White House right now.” The film follows Trump for the three weeks leading up to the inauguration as she picks out her outfits, coos over invitation mock-ups, consults on party menus , marks the one-year anniversary of losing her mother, and prepares to move back into White House. Instead of structuring the movie around interviews with its subject, most of the information we learn about Melania Trump comes in the form of a scripted voice over delivered by the first lady herself. It’s like watching a $40 million book report filmed by three of the most celebrated cinematographers working today . There’s something cute about that — like Elle Woods hiring a Coppola to shoot her Harvard Law School admissions video — but their impressive camera work does very little to makeThe film plods painfully along for 104 minutes, dodging relevance at every possible juncture. The most intimate conversation the filmmakers capture between Trump and her husband is a phone call on which he drones on about the certification of the 2024 election . The closest it comes to any moment of real tension is on inauguration morning when there appears to be some issue installing the first lady’s Hamburglar-esque headpiece. The Internet Is Freaking Out Over the Viral Valentine's Day Jellcat. Here's Where You Can Find It OnlineNeil Young Trashes Amazon, Gives His Complete Musical Catalog to Greenland for Free And then there is the moment on inauguration day when Melania reflects on her status as immigrant and the first lady, remarking, “No matter where we come from, we are bound by the same humanity.” It passes quickly and without introspection. ‘Chaos’: Behind the Scenes of Amazon’s Melania Trump DocWhether or not there is any public appetite for a film of this nature, at this particular moment in time, remains to be seen.debuts in the wake of a violent, prolonged, and unprovoked assault by federal immigration agents on the city of Minneapolis, making the polished clips of the first lady inspecting fabric swatches a stomach-turning splitscreen to the cellphone footage of ICE agents tear-gassing, brutalizing and, in the cases of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, fatally shooting Americans from multiple angles. . The distributor has planned a rollout with screenings in 3,300 theaters worldwide. At the one I attended, the earliest showing in New York City on the daywas released, the theater was barely a quarter full and almost everyone was a journalist. The two exceptions were single men; one had a brown bag beverage. He left half way through.Brandon Sanderson's Literary Fantasy Universe 'Cosmere' Picked Up by Apple TV Pete Davidson & Machine Gun Kelly Got Real About Why They Never Expected to Be Dads: ‘We Thought We’d Die Young’‘To Hold a Mountain’ Review: A Mother Tries to Preserve a Simple World for Her Daughter in a Sweet Portrait of Pastoral Life in Montenegro
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