NEW YORK — Jacques Audiard’s “Emilia Pérez” is an Oscar contender unlike any other. It’s a musical, a trans parable, and a Mexico-set melodrama, all combined into one unique amalgamation by an international filmmaking team. And just as singularly, it’s a best picture front-runner that, it sometimes seems, no one likes.

Emilia Pérez is the most controversial Oscars frontrunner since Green Book. That might want to give its critics pause.

Although it's set in Mexico City, French film 'Emilia Pérez' ran into a frost reception on its opening there. Critics cited stereotypes and the lack of a clear message about the narcos it portrays.