Blonde Review: 7 Ups & 3 Downs
2. Ana De Armas Can't Shake Her Accent
Ana de Armas gives a richly dramatic performance as Marilyn, though there's one aspect of her performance that remains an unfortunate distraction, and that's her accent.
As many remarked since Blonde's first trailer dropped, de Armas has evidently struggled to drop her significant Cuban twang, despite working extensively with a vocal coach in an attempt to do so.
For the entirety of the film, her natural accent is still basically audible underneath her approximation of Marilyn, and in some scenes it's even clear that she's fighting hard to suppress it.
This sometimes runs the risk of pulling viewers out of scenes, yet at least the heightened feel of Dominik's film - mounted as more expressionistic than impressionistic - makes it less of a hindrance than it would be in a more typical biopic.
It won't bother everyone, but it does place an asterisk next to her otherwise committed performance.