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>>> The First Monday in May: Biebs, Anna Wintour and the Met

THE FIRST MONDAY IN MAY (Andrew Rossi). 90 minutes. Opens Friday (April 22). See Listing.  Rating: NNNN


Justin Bieber prances down a hallway, affecting the most annoying chipmunk voice as he squeals, “We’re gonna party tonight.” He’s goofing around at the Met Gala, a more-exclusive-than-the-Oscars ball for Hollywood’s glitziest and fashion and music A-listers (also the occasion when Solange kicked Jay Z).

Director Andrew Rossi’s fascinating and predictably stylish behind-the-scenes documentary points out that Bieber is bumbling about in a blazer embroidered by a visionary designer, flanked by carefully curated ancient Egyptian artifacts. The pop star sucks up all the oxygen, but many more artists’ hands are in that frame.

Sure, the gala provides fodder for checkout-aisle photo spreads, but it also raises vital funds for the Metropolitan Museum’s worthy fashion exhibits. Rossi and his subjects explore that uncomfortable compromise between art and commerce, which, in its own way, can also be something beautiful. Where else would art historians work alongside Wong Kar-wai, Baz Luhrmann and Rihanna? Vogue’s Anna Wintour, chair of the event, looms over every shoulder. 

Wintour plays up her Devil Wears Prada side as a savvy in-joke people trembling around her get the film’s biggest laughs. But in the end, she lets the art have the last word.    

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