Poor Things

Official Australian release date: 26/12/23. Viewed: 22/12/23.
Director: Yorgos Lanthimos
Actors: Emma Stone, Willem Dafoe, Mark Ruffalo, Ramy Youssef
Genre: Drama / Romance
Rating: MA

‘Poor Things’ is… weird and hard to fully explain. It has elements of sci-fi, Frankenstein, romance, comedy and drama, as well as oddly framed camera angles, lots of fish-eye lens and keyhole shots. It follows Bella (Stone) and her “father”/creator, Godwin (Dafoe, who does well to still be able to act in his mask), Bella’s fiancée Max (Youssef) and fling Duncan (Ruffalo). The film's technically set in the 19^th century, but in a fictional world.

We follow Bella as she grows and learns what the world’s about, through 6 distinct acts – London, Lisbon, Alexandria, Paris and London again. I don’t think it’s a spoiler to say that Godwin is a faux Frankenstein/Geppetto, w with Bella his Frankenstein’s Monster/Pinocchio. While the first 40min is all black & white, it establishes that we’re in a fantastical/un-real world and enables what follows to not be too jarring. Once Bella gains independence, her and Duncan go on a trip and we’re back in colour and there’s lots of nods to Wes Anderson.

There is a lot of sex and nudity from Stone, as Bella explores her sexuality. It often adds to the story, but not always. Stone is excellent as Bella, giving her a peculiar gait and way of talking to always make sure you know the character is not a normal adult. Ruffalo has some fun moments, and Dafoe’s always good, making Godwin into an empathetic character. I didn’t love the score and some of the cinematography, although the sky when they’re on the boat is captivating. At 140min, it’s probably 30min too long and while different, it with sometimes feels like odd things are thrown in just for oddness’ sake.

Overall: Unique, odd, sex-filled journey

Gav's Rating: 3 stars 

Godzilla Minus One

Official Australian release date: 1/12/23. Viewed: 11/12/23.
Director: Takashi Yamazaki
Actors: Ryunosuke Kamiki, Minami Hamabe, Hidetaka Yoshioka, Kuranosuke Sasaki
Genre: Action / Drama
Rating: M

‘Godzilla Minus One’ (or ‘Gorjira -1.0’) is probably the 35^th Godzilla film overall, but the first Japanese language one I’ve seen in a while. It’s definitely a little different to the last 3 Hollywood versions of Godzilla we’ve seen over the past 10 years, and not just his actual less-bulky design. The CGI’s not bad – just different. This film is set in Japan during 1945–1947, so there’s plenty of post-WWII trauma and themes at play.

We follow failed Kamikaze pilot Koichi (Kamiki) as he comes to terms with the devastation of Tokyo, his family and his survivors guilt. He’s then joined by Noriko (Hamabe) and daughter Akiko (Nagatani) and the film spends a lot of time with this complicated relationship. Koichi eventually gets a job clearing sea mines with Captain Yoji (Sasaki) and Dr Noda (Yoshioka). They just survive their first encounter with Godzilla.

As with all monster movies, I find it’s a very fine line between seeing too little of the monster/creature and not enough. There’s probably an hour in the middle of this film where we needed to see more Godzilla. That being said, the film’s don’t work if there’s absolutely no plot or sympathy for the lead characters – which there is here. But it’s sometimes a bit too melodramatic. It also makes it confusing – am I cheering for Godzilla to kill all these people? Or are we cheering for the humans to kill Godzilla? Bittersweet either way. Some great large-scale set pieces here, but a little too long.

Overall: Bigger = better?

Gav's Rating: 3 stars 

The Boy and the Heron

Official Australian release date: 7/12/23. Viewed: 10/12/23.
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Actors: Luca Padovan, Robert Pattinson, Gemma Chan, Florence Pugh
Genre: Adventure / Drama
Rating: PG

‘The Boy and the Heron’ is Miyazaki’s 12^th film, and while not his best, it’s still exceptional animation with a nice story and a bit of weirdness thrown in to make it interesting. This time, we follow the titular boy, Mahito (Padovan) as his father (Bale) moves them from Tokyo to the Japanese countryside during World War II, after the death of his mother. There he has to deal with his new step-mother, Natsuko (Chan) and new environment.

There’s a bit of effort that goes into the set-up – and the fire scene in Tokyo is excellently animated – then a lull as Mahito tries to find his place in his new circumstances. This is where he encounters the Heron (Pattinson) – with a cool face-swap trick – who leads him to an abandoned tower, which transports them to a hidden world, a we’re on a bit of an ‘Alice in Wonderland’ trip. Kiriko (Pugh), Himi (Fukuhara) and Grand-Uncle (Hamill) are (mostly) helpful to Mahito here, as he has to figure-out how to save Natsuko and get back to his world.

I don’t think this lives up to ‘Princess Mononoke’ or ‘Spirited Away’, but is similar to ‘Ponyo’ or ‘The Wind Rises’. Possibly a bit long at 2 hours, but it does have plenty of weird creatures, a great voice cast (including Dafoe as a pelican and Bautista as a parakeet!), some beautifully painted backdrops, a great score and a nice little moral about looking out for others and choosing your own path.      

Overall: Interesting animated other-realm adventure

Gav's Rating: 3.5 stars