Disgraced director Brett Ratner makes his return to the big screen with what is set to be a box office flop in “Melania.” A documentary story following the first lady Melania Trump in the twenty days leading up to President Donald J. Trump’s second inauguration, the film has been skilfully released on Jan. 30 — a year after the event.
Ratner’s last directed film before he was accused of several accounts of sexual misconduct towards women was 2014’s “Hercules.” He was never formally convicted, but the 2017 accusations — and his recent cameo in the Epstein files — led him to be shunned by Hollywood until now.
“Melania” $75 million budget has raised many eyebrows, as $28 million of that was just for Mrs. Trump’s role in the film. Many have even gone as far as to call it a corruption scheme. Ratner denies these rumors claiming that the movie and the three part docuseries — that has yet to announce a release date — will speak for themselves.
“When you see the movie, you’ll go, ‘Oh, we see where the money went now,’” said Ratner according to The Hollywood Reporter “‘Melania’ Doc Premieres in D.C. as Director Brett Ratner Says $75 Million Price Tag “Wasn’t About Corruption”” by Carita Rizzo on Jan. 29.
After having sat through the hour and forty-eight minute movie I must say I do not see where this $75 million dollar budget went.
The film feels like an overpriced attempt at a home movie. It follows the first lady as she goes over her duties with unsteady camera work and extremely close-up shots that could quite honestly make any viewer nauseous.
This direction may call attention back to Rattner’s previous works, this includes action packed films like the three “Rush Hour” films, “X-Men: The Last Standing,” and “Red Dragon.” Though he does have producer credits in other genres including documentaries, it’s clear where his skills lie.
His strong suit is apparent from the opening sequence of the film: rock music plays while Melania delivers a monologue of her self importance. As the camera pans across the Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla., and takes you from her police escort to the airport going to Trump Tower in New York City, you almost expect a car chase to ensue.
Then you are met with Michael Jackson’s “Billy Jean” and you wonder if they even knew what part of the film this was supposed to go to.
The timeline and pacing of the film felt confusing. Has a day passed? A week? Many moments seem like Melania was thrown into the scene instead of capturing natural moments of her life included by music that never suited the scene.
The film constantly casts Melania as a behind-the-scenes mover of important decision-making moments, but never actually shows her putting in any work.
In one instance her decor and stylist team mention her eye for decor — but conveniently that decision was made off-screen, with small clips of “planning” prior were shown as she points at already created boards with design concepts.
Melania’s personality became more apparent during a detailed fitting for her already designed outfit for the second inauguration, but rather than showing the process or collaboration it took for the final product. Instead, Melania’s opinions and expressions were more prominent during the slight adjustments on the outfit compared to her demeanor for the rest of the film’s topics of responsibilities being FLOTUS.
Outside of a heartfelt moment with the effects of Melania commentating on the grief of her mother Amalija Knavs having passed a year prior. The moment centers around her having to continue on even though the one year anniversary of her mothers death falls on the funeral of 39th president Jimmy Carter. Following her private flight to her mothers favorite church in New York City, after attending the funeral. It showed a more compassionate and somewhat expressive side that we had not seen the entirety of the film after the fittings.
This grief, however, was expressed like most of the film is: in a voice-over monologue. The documentary is supposed to give a glimpse into the life of the First Lady as she transitions from a private citizen to a public figure once more. Except it never allows the viewer to actually see who Melania is, the voice over tells you her emotion, and the way she handles things. Nothing is left to visual interpretation because you as the viewer never see or feel any of these moments. You are just told this is it don’t worry if it appears true just know its there behind the botox I swear.
Typically one would expect the score of the film to express what cannot be seen but each moment is simply monologued or paired with ill-fitting music that feels as though you hit shuffle on the free version of spotify.
The attempt to build an understanding of her relationship with others is again cut short by her monologues about the relationship rather than letting that individual speak.
When speaking with the Queen of Jordan, Rania Al Abdullah’s conversation is covered with monologues where Melania refers to her organizations for change “Fostering the future for American Children and Families” and “Be Best” initiative, Melania never shows her actual plans of action for these movements at any point. Just discusses them with foreign dignitaries, never giving actual explanations as to what she herself is doing.
Similar to the Queen Abdullah, a conversation with Brigitte Macron, first lady of France, gets a voice over.
Even Melania’s father Viktor Knavs is cut short after briefly reflecting on his wife Amalija in English. Less than a minute into him speaking in his native language the moment is covered with — you guessed it — a monologue from Melania once again.
They later attempt to have some type of homage to her father’s love of film, with vintage Super 8 film roll cuts, going from the modern day scene in clarity to the roll of the same moment but in blurred film with the film roll sound effect.
One would think when mentioning how much a man loved to film they might actually debut the footage they claim inspired the cuts.
But who would expect anything to make sense from a film about a woman who says, “No matter where we come from we are all bound by the same humanity,” while her husband, displaying no sense of humanity, tears apart immigrant families while wearing a wedding band that binds him to an immigrant.
Watching this film felt like a betrayal to humanity, trying to find sympathy in a community that lacks sympathy for anyone they deem less human. It was an hour and forty eight minutes of trying to not roll my eyes every time they played the perfect family, as she spoke of her son being reserved because of the public’s eye. Yet children fear for the safety of their parents under the Trump DHS regime.
“Melania” the film is a perfect mirror to the current administration: A walking contradiction with no sense of direction, attempting to deflect any and all need for understanding with glamour shots and pretty words that in the end are strung together to mean nothing.
