I saw the trailer, I was intrigued, and I'm not sure if either the movie didn't make it down here or I was just busy with other stuff but the fact I'm only just now getting to it is a crying shame in my eyes. Where the hell do I start?? I'd be amazed if there was any satisfactory synopsis of this picture but best I can describe it is, if you took elements of Frankenstein and combined it with essentially the story of a woman maturing, exploring, and finding her place set amidst this steampunk late 19th century world, and add a healthy dash of bizzare. It it unashamedly out there, with dry wit, great humor, and an expansive story that you have zero clue where it's going to go. Emma Stone is our lead as Bella Baxter and I think it's safe to say this is my favorite performance of hers bar none, to explain the character would pretty much involve me spelling out all the details of the story, so all I'll say is fantastic casting. Willem DaFoe plays her parental figure affectionately called God, I love the design of the character and the scientific bluntness of his lines, he's more prominent at the start but has a strong anchor that bookends the film. Ramy Youssef as young scientist Max has the most minor role of our main cast but still stands strong despite it, acting as a love interest for Bella who is not only accepting but passionate for her. Mark Ruffalo, again might honestly be my favorite role of his, he just gets to go out there and play this utter scoundrel of a foppish socialite but may be the funniest part of the movie, his performamce is grand in every sense and never failed to make me shake my head and quote Nandor The Relentless with "Fucking guy.". Those are the prominent main players but even the supporting cast down to even individuals you see in just one scene are great, all adding to this surreal fever dream of a world that we travel. I have never ever seen a movie pummeled with opulence, sweet Christmas these outfits, these sets, the sky itself is shocking to admire! I mean the phrase, spared no expense comes to mind, and my God what a delight it must have been to be a concept artist or set designer on this film. Phenomenal. I feel the movie has so much intelligence to it, heavy portions of commentary and flat out parodying are abound of the time period, the customs, specifically the relationship between man and woman, there is zero doubt this was completely intentional. With this and Lisa Frankenstein I hope the trend continues for quirky ass, slightly dark, romantic, reanimation type cinema! It's a bonkers movie but ceaselessly entertaining. Utterly fascinating though to view this from my perspective, cause I'll be upfront I'm autistic as fuck, I've never even came within a country mile of a relationship, and frankly speaking leaning into that asexual side of things, so to be on the outside looking in and having a disconnect from the sex and the complex emotions somewhat akin to our protagonist (whoring notwithstanding), I feel I got a lot out of this movie and deepened my perspective of women in a strange sense. It's probably the most feminist coded film I've ever seen without bashing you over the head with it, it's there but it's subtle. Yet can it be enjoyed just as a movie on it's own? Oh, absolutely! Well worth the time seeing even if it might not fully be up your alley, I'm accustomed to the strange and unusual so I was there pretty much from the word go. Great damn film in my estimation, 4 stars across the board, 9/10! And next time I'll be hitting up another modern movie that grabbed my attention.
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