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Vox Lux (2018)

Vox Lux
That's what I love about pop music. I don't want people to have to think too hard. I just want them to feel good.
—Celeste
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Brady Corbet’s sophomore feature Vox Lux, called “the anti-A Star Is Born,” starts with a bang.

In the opening segment, “Prelude 1999,” it’s the end of the millenium and 13-year-old Celeste (Raffey Cassidy) is in middle school, just one of many students bustling into class. What comes next is a bleak, terrifying affair and the origin story of a pop idol: a boy enters the room and begins shooting, killing the teacher and several students and seriously injuring Celeste. As an ambulance carries her, wide-eyed and immobilized, through the wintry Staten Island landscape, the title appears, small and unremarkable, followed by a credits roll that inches slowly upwards. The credits keep coming, creating a shield of names over Celeste; a bodyguard of text. This credits crawl, normally rolling downwards and reserved for the end of the film, was designed by Chris Taylor (who also created stage graphics that appear later in the film) with direction from Corbet. The urgent choral score by Scott Walker gives the scenes heft while cinematography by Lol Crawley, shot in a tight 1.66:1 aspect ratio and on Kodak 35mm, moves from vehicle mounts to handheld to a pan and zoom out, providing both intimacy and steely distance. The sequence stands apart, the unusual motion and density of the credits creating space between this teenage trauma and the troubled, glittering star Celeste will become.

Later, when the closing title card appears at the end of the film, it’s bright and modern, the text large and in charge, and a fitting mark for Celeste’s brand, now fully formed.

VIDEO: Vox Lux (2018) end title card and crawl

  • Credits

Director: Brady Corbet

Titles & Graphics: Chris Taylor

Director of Photography: Lol Crawley

Music: Scott Walker

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Title sequence

  • Category

    Film
  • Styles

    2010s, main title, opening scene, type over scene
Vox Lux
  • Film Director

    Brady Corbet
  • Release Date

    December 21, 2018
  • Aspect Ratio

    1.66:1
  • Studios

    Bold Films, Killer Films, Andrew Lauren Productions
  • Country

    USA
  • Languages

    English, Croatian, Chinese
  • Reviews

    Reviews on Letterboxd
  • IMDb has full details

Article

  • Writer

    Lola Landekic
  • Published

    December 8, 2019

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