The kindest thing that can be said about Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 is that it’s unpredictable. There is little in it to prepare you for a climactic twist which is, in equal measure, audacious and ridiculous. While well-intentioned, it’s staged so clumsily that it fails to evoke the required empathy. But I will say — I did not see it coming.

Otherwise, we are back in familiar territory. The Bhool Bhulaiyaa franchise started with the classic 1993 Malayalam film Manichitrathazhu, which was remade in Hindi in 2007. Both versions delivered a skillful cocktail of laughs and scares without true paranormal activity. In each, the real culprit causing the leading lady to turn into Manjulika, the unhinged spirit of a royal dancer, was eventually identified as dissociative identity disorder.

But when director Anees Bazmee took over the reins with the 2022 reboot, the horror became real. Black magic, spirits, jump scares, ominous backgrounds and, of course, Shreya Ghoshal’s magical rendition of the song “Ami Je Tomar” were all part of the mix, as well as a cheerful lowbrow humor. My favorite bit was Rajpal Yadav’s Chhote Pandit and Sanjay Mishra’s Bade Pandit mistaking Manjulika for the latter’s wife, Panditayeen, and asking her to make daal (lentils), only to get slapped hard by the ghost.

In the third installment, Bazmee retains the tropes of the first two Hindi films: a sprawling palatial mansion in which one room has been locked for years because it’s believed that a specter resides there; a royal family hiding secrets; the mysterious dancing Manjulika. The popular title track returns, along with “Ami Je Tomar.” And, of course, there are the atmospherics — long empty corridors, darkened skies, spooky sounds and enough CG crows to populate a sequel to Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds. 

Once again, Kartik Aaryan plays Ruhaan (a.k.a. Rooh Baba), a fraudulent ghostbuster who makes money by exploiting people’s fear of the supernatural. He is summoned to a castle somewhere in West Bengal where, oddly, the locals seem to recognize him. And there begins a tale that includes punar janam (reincarnation); a poor raja desperate to sell his palace; several characters speaking in terrible Bengali accents; sibling rivalry; and the oversized shadow of Manjulika, no longer pining for her murdered lover.   

Among the picture’s highlights is the return of Vidya Balan, whose terrific performance as Avni, an archaeologist who believes that she is Manjulika, was key to the success of the 2007 movie. Her dance, with disheveled hair, frantic eyes and red vermillion spread across her forehead, was truly chilling. This time she plays Mallika, a restoration expert who may or may not be Manjulika, and her performance is pitched to match the overall hamminess of the film.

In fact, Bazmee has not one but two trump cards here. Madhuri Dixit also enters the franchise as Mandira, a potential buyer for the mansion who is clearly hiding something. At one point, Balan and Dixit have a face-off in which they are ready to strangle each other. At another, they have a dance-off in the palace. The clash of two of Hindi cinema’s finest actors should be riveting.

But the screenplay, written by Aakash Kaushik, is so disjointed that it’s difficult for characters to make an impact. Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 does not follow any internal logic, playing as a slapdash assortment of jokes, scares, exposition, songs and set pieces strung together in the hope that it will add up to a coherent and compelling narrative. Mandira and Mallika trade barbs or giggle together maniacally, seemingly at random, or it’s all revealed to be a dream. Dixit is billed as a special appearance, which perhaps explains why the part is so underwritten that I started focusing on her expansive collection of saris and the size of her jewelry — Mandira loves dressing up.

I also wondered what the late Saroj Khan might have done with an opportunity like the dance duel. While Dixit and Balan are superb in the Chinni Prakash-choreographed sequence, there’s little about it as memorable as the dance-off between Dixit and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan in Devdas.

Mostly, Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 lurches along. Two romantic songs are bunged in, perhaps to give Triptii Dimri something to do; otherwise, she is mostly tasked with looking lovely. Vijay Raaz and Rajesh Sharma, both actors with solid comic chops, are relegated to the ornate background — though I did smile when Raaz, as the poor raja, says he’s willing to take on the ghost in the palace but not live another day in poverty.  

Aaryan is front and center, and he does it all: being charming and funny, romancing and dancing, defeating the spooks. I like that the actor is willing to poke holes in the trend of hyper-masculine Bollywood heroes. Ruhaan scares easily and, just like in the second film, when things get too daunting, he tries to run away. But the copious energy he invests is sabotaged by the flat writing. The jokes just aren’t funny enough — though there is one killer line about Shehzada, which was one of Aaryan’s major flops — and the scares aren’t terrifying enough.

Perhaps it’s time to give Manjulika a rest. After all, there’s only so far you can take a vengeful ghost and two terrific songs.

An incredible roller coaster of a film, I can easily imagine Bill Hader’s Stefon character from Saturday Night Live describing Emilia Pérez: “It’s got drug kingpins, drag queens, courtroom drama, characters returning from the dead, a Bonnie and Clyde–level kidnapping, but it’s also a family drama, a story of female empowerment, an exploration of family dynamics, of violence and redemption. Oh, and did I also mention it’s mostly in Spanish and it’s also a musical adjacent piece of spoken-word poetry with some strong operatic vibes!”

I kid you not.

In other words, Emilia Pérez is fabulously unlike any film you’ve ever seen. It’s a LOT. And it’s definitely not for everybody. But for me, it’s one of the most compelling, refreshing, and original pieces of cinema I’ve seen.

At a Santa Barbara International Film Festival Cinema Society screening on October 26, French Writer/Director Jacques Audiard — yes, he’s French and the film is in Spanish because, as he explained, the story demanded it — the original idea for the film came from a book called Écoute [Listen], with a character who is a drug kingpin who wants to transition to become a woman. But the development of the character into one of three key women in the film — played by Karla Sofía Gascón (Manitas Del Monte and Emilia Pérez), Zoe Saldaña (Rita Mora Castro, Manitas’s lawyer), and Selena Gomez (Jessi Del Monte, Manitas’s wife) — ultimately evolved into the creation of a telenovela-style fantasy version of Mexico with an over-the-top dose of operatic drama to contrast with the intimate emotions the three main characters experience. The stars collectively (with co-star Adriana Paz, who has a pivotal but much smaller role) and deservedly won Best Actress at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival.

The deceptively campy style of the plot doesn’t diminish the seriousness of what these women go through, but the film definitely walks a tightrope in terms of tone, which is what makes their performances so impressive.

Without giving too much of this delicious and outrageous fever dream away, let me say that through song, dance and bold visuals, Emilia Pérez tells the story of some remarkable women trying to pursue happiness in their own ways, in some pretty wild circumstances. And Emilia Pérez is absolutely one of the most original pieces of film you’ll see this year. Don’t miss it.

Zoe Saldaña, who will be honored at SBIFF with the American Riviera Award on February 7, gives a particularly fabulous performance as the most grounded character in the film. I’m looking forward to hearing what she has to say about working on this groundbreaking film, currently playing at the Riviera Theatre and coming to Netflix on November 13. View the trailer here and see the SBIFF interview with writer/director Jacques Audiard and composers Camille and Clément Ducol here.

Film

Anora
Director: Sean Baker
FilmNation Entertainment and Cre Film
In Theaters: 11.02

There are times that I feel the need to be quite clear that when I give a good review to a film:  it’s not necessarily a blanket recommendation for all audiences. If you’re squeamish about strong sexual content in a movie and want any movie that includes it to spoon feed you a redemptive, cautionary message, Anora isn’t going to be your thing. That said, I found it to be it’s one of the most interesting and refreshing films of 2024. 

Anora ‘Ani’ Mikheeva (Mikey Madison, Once Upon A Time… in Hollywood, Scream), a 23-year-old exotic dancer in New York City, finds her regular routine suddenly sidetracked when her boss, knowing that Ani learned to speak from her grandmother, sends her to give a lap dance to Ivan “Vanya” Zakharov (Mark Eidelstein), the spoiled young son of a prominent oligarch, Vanya becomes smitten with her, their connection quickly escalates and Ani agrees to visit him at home as an escort. Before long, Vanta is offering Anora the sum of  $15000 to be his live-in girlfriend for a week. At the end of this week of partying and lovemaking, a spontaneous marriage proposal in Las Vegas leads Anora to the altar to become Mrs. Zakharov. The honeymoon doesn’t last long, however, as Vanya’s disapproving parents send henchmen left by Toros (Karren Karagulian, Tangerine, Red Rocket,) the young man’s Armenian godfather, who can perhaps best be described as an “off-duty” Orthodox Priest, to break things up. When Vanya learns that his parents are angry and headed to New York, he runs away, and Ani must make a tentative truce with Toros and his gang as they work together, scouring the Russian and Ukrainian neighborhoods of Little Odessa to find him.

Writer-director Sean Baker’s The Florida Project is a masterpiece that is still burned into my mind. The unconventional auteur’s penchant for telling judgment-free stories about people from different walks of life—even those who make what many would consider questionable choices—is put to a different but no less effective use in Anora. While the film is far from a glamorization of sex work—this isn’t a Pretty Woman-style romcom and it doesn’t cut away before things get explicit;the bright and tenacious protagonist is never portrayed as pathetic or deserving of anything that happens to her because of her chosen profession, nor does it bother to offer stock justifications about how she was forced into this life out of desperation. Ani is simply portrayed as a person making a living by doing something that she’s good at, sometimes enjoying her work and gritting her teeth through it at others. There’s a lot about this film that’s left to the eye of the beholder, right down to the fact that strictly speaking, there’s nothing about this story that should be humourous, yet most of Anora is a fast and furious comedy that borders on screwball farce. Baker is not one to keep things too simple, however, and Anora also deals with such dark themes such as the commoditization of women, violence and the ability of those with an unlimited bank account and a very limited conscience to set their own rules. There’s an underlying harsh sadness to the film that at times rises right up to the surface, in particular in the brilliant and haunting final scene.

Anora is aptly titled, as throughout, the title character is the driving force, and Madison is a revelation in the role. Deftly moving from sassy to vulnerable, from sexy siren to hilariously brash New York spitfire, the young actress is magnetic and flawlessly handles the mix of laughter and tears that she’s going to be be giving older and more seasoned stars like Angelina Jolie a serious run for their money come Oscar time. While the whole ensemble is magnificent, the unsung standout who makes as strong an impression as Madison is Yuri Borisov (The Silver Skates, Petrov’s Flu) as Igor, the muscle of the henchman, who forms what begins as a grudging respect for Ani’s ferocity and becomes something else. The fact that the dynamic between them becomes one of the most unexpectedly touching character relationships of the year is certainly in part a testament to Baker’s skill, yet anything less than perfection from the actors would have made it fall flat. 

It’s tempting to compare Anora either to a Coen Brothers botched caper comedy, or the older works of Woody Allen, in terms of the raw filmmaking style, the New York setting and the deceptive simplicity of the story. It’s an imperfect comparison to say the least, and not only would it it be a disservice to imply that Baker is trying to imitate anyone else, Anora is more grounded than the Coens’ work and a lot less forced than Allen’s. While I have to emphasize again that this is not a movie for everyone, it’s a great movie, and may well be remembered as the breakout movie that launched the career of one of the great actresses of our time. –Patrick Gibbs

Read more film reviews here: 
Film Review: Heretic
Film Review: Here