Poor Things (Yorgos Lanthimos)

[wilder]

The incredible tale and fantastical evolution of Bella Baxter (Stone), a young woman brought back to life by the brilliant and unorthodox scientist Dr. Godwin Baxter (Dafoe).

Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos
In theaters December 8, 2023

[WorldForgot]

Really into the heavily saturated shots. Reminds me of Hisayasu Satō's more stylized frames.

[HACKANUT]

In Theaters September 8th

From filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos and producer Emma Stone comes the incredible tale and fantastical evolution of Bella Baxter (Stone), a young woman brought back to life by the brilliant and unorthodox scientist Dr. Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe). Under Baxter's protection, Bella is eager to learn. Hungry for the worldliness she is lacking, Bella runs off with Duncan Wedderburn (Mark Ruffalo), a slick and debauched lawyer, on a whirlwind adventure across the continents. Free from the prejudices of her times, Bella grows steadfast in her purpose to stand for equality and liberation.

Cast: Emma Stone, Mark Ruffalo, Willem Dafoe, Ramy Youssef, Jerrod Carmichael Christopher Abbott


EDIT: my bad sorry for making a new thread, search didnt turn up an existing one!

[ono]

How to rock the search engine 101:

Type "Poor Things" with quotes.
Check "Search in topic subjects only".

Boom.

And I'm looking forward to this.  Lanthimos is a crazy sumbitch.  Reminds me of von Trier for some reason.  Dogtooth was okay.  I disliked The Lobster.  Haven't seen anything else, but this looks promising.

[WorldForgot]

Impeccable vibez coming from this production, love how he seemingly is going back to a FISH-EYE focused wide-lensing motif.

[WorldForgot]

[WorldForgot]

On release I think the response to this movie around people I was talking to was divided. Either they felt it was too 'feminism 101' or they loved that it was unabashaedly 'itself' - unlike Saltburn which sort of goes through the motions of other thrillers within its genre. This movie's ear for dialogue is too playful for me to berate its plotting. One could argue it's facile - but I think the easier point of entry for critique would be simple: Yorgos has made this movie before, and with more complications, in Dogtooth. But I don't fault it for being its own ludicrous fable.

Thing is, we all ought to be as voracious and curious as Bella. So whatever the trappings of this script's trajectory, I think there's worth in its notion of 'pursuit' and 'awe' and compassion. Taking compassion into account, not every movie has to be entirely for me. And when I think of the thrill this movie's lewd-introduction to intellectualism will be for high school film enthusiasts, I'm filled with gladness.

Super cool chapter cards and sets. Makes me wish we could get a movie that looks like William and Catherine Blake's artwork. Production Design and Costuming awards are going to be a hard battle between this, Barbie, Oppenheimer, and Killers of the Flower Moon. Drop your other Prod Design hopefules in the comments if I missed one. hehe.

[WorldForgot]

[03]

So..

[Alethia]

..awesome film.