Embrace death and let sympathy wash over you during Frankenstein.
With stellar performances and impeccable construction, this creature feature will rip you apart.
Frankenstein, as a film, is a creature itself, the work of dozens of masters stitched together to form a monstrous whole. Gothic and fantastical yet grounded in brutality and truth, Jacob Elordi as the creature is the warm blood that runs through the body of Guillermo del Toro's newest wonder.
Oscar Isaac is cutting, embracing inhuman cruelty in pursuit and extension of human life. Despite a stellar performance, and one far more ripe with malice than we are used to from a performer who exudes such warmth, Victor is compelling, he is cruel, and he is broken, but he is not quite engaging enough to occupy so much space on screen and in the body of the audience as the creature.
Portraying both Elizabeth Lavenza and briefly Caroline Beaufort, Mia Goth refuses to disappoint, though she has given us better performances. As Elizabeth, her character is only very slightly underwritten; in a lengthy film with much to unpack, there is no surplus of room for her development. Written well, however, not with excellence. More depth to her character outside of her marriage and kindness towards the creature would be much appreciated, but the film as a whole does not suffer greatly from this minor flaw.
“If you can not give me love, I will indulge in rage.”
Elordi is simply fantastic; it is difficult to imagine the role being played by anyone other than this 6’5 "wounded puppy." Demanding sympathy with a firm hand, I winced at every mistreatment of the creature. It’s possible that the immensely moving demonstration of suffering, longing, love, and desperation drove me to profusely crying in a packed cinema at 8 a.m., but that remains between me and the unlucky audience members on either side of me.
Each component of the film works flawlessly together; the costume design is brilliant. Mia Goth is adorned in the shining satin, the jewel tones, and glimmering armoured skin of the insects she adores. Gleaming like a beetle, she is a vision of what she loves. The sheer fabrics draped over her frame, fluttering in the wind, like the delicate wings of a butterfly.
Constructed intricately like the web of nerves that run through us, Alexandre Desplat creates a genuinely transcendent score. The practical effects are nothing short of spectacular. The effects team, Frankenstein themselves in a way, breathe so much life into the body of this film.
The soaring highs of Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein far outweigh its imperfections, making for a truly wonderful viewing experience. Indulge in the tragedy and allow your heart to be ripped out of your chest by the mangled hand of Frankenstein's creature.
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