Música

I don't know if writer/director Rudy Mancuso's 2024 coming of age romance ever fully lives up to its potential, getting lost in the latter half in an unconvincing love triangle and deciding puppets rather than music is the core to our quirky leading man, but it's undeniable that at its best moments Música soars.

Mancuso stars as Rudy, an aspiring puppeteer struggling with expectations of his mother (Maria Mancuso), a failed relationship with his waspish girlfriend (Francesca Reale), and his distracting tendency to find music in everyday moments. While struggling to understand his breakup, and fending off the young attractive Brazilian women his mother is constantly attempting to set him up with, Rudy's live turns when he meets Isabella (Camila Mendes).

The scenes between Mancuso and Mendes are the best in the film, peaking at the moment when Rudy attempts to explain his Synesthesia to the girl he's immediately fallen for. That's what makes the second half of the film a bit frustrating as Rudy accepts the advances of the girlfriend who broke up with him and attempts to balance both relationships before, of course, everything crumbles. And in this second half the magic of the music gets a bit buried in romcom clichés.

I love puppets, and Rudy unlocking the method to share his love of them with the world is a nice ending for the character. How the Rudy/Isabella relationship ultimately shakes down, if disappointing, also makes sense given the character's poor decision making over the second-half of the film. That said, given the amount of effort put into Rudy's musical predilections, I'm not sure we ever see this core piece of the character effectively paid off in the same way we do with his felt companions.

• Title: Música
• IMDb: link