Not to call on the wrath of the Beyhive, because truly, the visual poetry that was Lemonade, was a hair-pullingly, lapel-shakingly amazing deep dive into Beyonce artistry. BUT this cultural artifact from Machine Gun Kelly is a proper study of this long-form contemplation of a musical artist's intentions put out into the world. What is this genre? A long music video? A musical short film? Whatever it is, when talented artists like Machine Gun Kelly and long-time collaborator Modsun, take this genre on, it elevates what we now should expect of musicals, of albums and of artists.
This film does not come with the ambition of gravity and philosophy--it is obviously light: with its DIY pop-coloured sets and pantomime. But in its off-handed creativity, it shows us there is infinity in what we assumed was a tired and saturated pop artifact landscape.
The script and snippets of the Downfalls High storyline are music-video like--just enough to outline an easy-to-understand plot about unlikely teenage love gone sideways. The characters are emoting just enough to nail the montage of a rapidly moving relationship. Of note is Sydney Sweeney who is reminiscent of a young Amanda Seyfried. Then, MGK, Travis and Co. pop out from the shadows, rocking out in the interludes of the characters' lived moments, as happens in "musicals". But here is where a magical departure takes place: the hackneyed shoe-horned situational songs that make some of us loathe the genre are nowhere to be found. SOMEHOW, MGK's previously released album (Tickets to My Downfall), from which each song was written entirely about personal, specific things that happened in the singer's life (pandemic, death of his father, addiction, thinking of his daughter during a suicidal spell), fit like die-cast joinery with this completely different storyline that had nothing to do with any those things. How?? The musicality and main hooks of the songs mesh entirely with the universal themes of new love, hope, small glories, loneliness, cynicism and heartbreak, even if the lyrics are specific. The fit is uncanny. It is a musical loaded with singles. The only answer is that the songs and the sentiments are universal.
DH elevates the notion of what songs should be in musicals--they should transcend the film and stand on their own, as does MGK's album did last year debuting at #1. It also elevates what songs on what an album should be--they should transcend the life of the artist and be universal--how too, do regular people live and die to this music?
Maybe NOT a 10/10 because I am personally tired of watching films about the life and times of white hetero people. Honestly, this point could have been made with a less basic storyline and it would have been the better for it.
