REVIEW: POOR THINGS

4/5

The Living Of A Sacred Dear. 

142 Mins. Starring: Emma Stone, Mark Ruffalo, Willem Dafoe, Ramy Youssef, Christopher Abbott, Margaret Qualley & Jerrod Carmichael. Director: Yorgos Lanthimos. In: Theatres. 

Riffing on Mary Shelley's 'Frankenstein', and things of that nature, Yorgos Lanthimos follows his epic big-three ('The Lobster', 'The Killing Of A Sacred Deer' and 'The Favourite') with a monster movie in 'Poor Things', which has the most riches when it comes to Oscar nominations, right now. The bride of Bella, played with pride by 'La La Land's Emma Stone, is also your favourite to take home the Academy Award for Best Actress come the weekend of February that follows valentine's matrimony. The screenplay from Tony McNamara best adapts Alasdair Gray's 1992 novel, 'Poor Things: Episodes from the Early Life of Archibald McCandless M.D., Scottish Public Health Officer'. Now, that's a mouthful like one character who spits out their meals, whilst another belches bubbles...and you thought your friends had bad table manners leaving their phones next to their plates like dessert cutlery. This odyssey of self and sexual discovery liberates the senses. In its resurrection, it makes the cinematography (by the revolutionary Robbie Ryan) of a steampunk-styled Victorian era London feel like a renaissance. Aesthetic art for the celluloid of the highest order that makes this crude and cruel intention complicated, but compelling piece of cinema an absolute classic.

Feeling like A24, but it's actually the also formidable Film4, is it your favourite from Lanthimos, whose best pictures (aside from the definitive 'Dogtooth') usually star with 'The'? Many cite 'The Lobster' as the first time Yorgos' talents bubbled to the surface. Whilst 'The Favourite' broke the Oscars like these 11 noms, just like at Britain's BAFTA's are set to do. Our best lies with the biblical proportions of 'Killing A Sacred Deer, which was the real coming out party for the most talented actor of the next generation, Barry Keoghan alongside a classic Colin Farrell. Before 'The Banshees Of Inisherin'. Before the Clown Prince holding all the cards. Before the 'Saltburn' of a bathtub. Spoiler alert, Emma Stone's character dies in the first scene. Leaping from Tower Bridge, as we can't see her face in the most haunting moment under the bridge of the Big Smoke since we saw Heath Ledger there in 'The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus'. She is then brought back to shocking life by Willem Dafoe, who looks like Frankenstein's monster himself, in something that even that green mean machine doesn't have to bolts to comprehend. Emma may walk again, albeit with baby steps, but she has the mind of a child, as she must develop again from scratch. Stone's seriously stellar acting in this aged piece is proactive and profound, as not only does she act like a child, she also exhibits all the emotions of someone getting to grips with a brave new world and the ignorance it shows the innocent.

The fast and the furious jumping in this family would even make Vin Diesel blush, as there's more nekked sex in this movie than the down-and-out brothels of Paris it inhabits, via Lisbon, when not in an Orwellian London where motorized carriages carry horse heads on the front like a victory of a Godfather. Speaking of God, Dafoe plays him, at least in Emma's eyes, and does so with confliction and conviction. Although he was beat to the punch of the Supporting Actor nomination by Mark Ruffalo, and the best since, this hulking actor stole the show from Tom Cruise and Jamie Foxx's cab conflict as a beat cop in 'Collateral'. We love it when Mark is Marvel angry, but he's even better debauched here. Especially when he trips, or gets slapped with an accent that feels like Jack Sparrow went to grammar school. Through all the twists and shouts of philosophy and hedonism in this age of socialism, we also get a breakthrough performance from the gentle assistance of Ramy Youssef. A twisting and turning one from a third act cataclysmic Christopher Abbott. And Jerrod Carmichael showing us just how much talent he has, on board this jovial and jarring journey. Not to mention 'Once Upon A Time In...Hollywood's' Margaret Qualley making her mallet mark again in spare, but significant scenes. Classic all the way down to the closing credits and the promotional posters, there are so many themes to unpack here in this epic empowerment and the power of one woman brought back to life, but living on her own terms. There, there, with a patronizing pat on the back, to the poor things that find this hard to deal with. TIM DAVID HARVEY. 

Further Filming: 'The Favourite', 'The Lobster', 'The Killing Of A Sacred Deer'.