Brought back to life by an unorthodox scientist, a young woman runs off with a lawyer on a whirlwind adventure across the continents. Free from the prejudices of her times, she grows steadfast in her purpose to stand for equality and liberation.
Director: Yorgos Lanthimos
Cast: Emma Stone, Mark Ruffalo, Willem Dafoe, Ramy Youssef, Christopher Abbott, Jerrod Carmichael
Release Date: December 8, 2023
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance, Sci-Fi
Rated R for strong and pervasive sexual content, graphic nudity, disturbing material, gore, and language
Runtime: 2h 21m
Yorgos Lanthimos' Frankenstein-like fable, Poor Things, is a darkly comedic and bold exploration of self-discovery of oneself. Its a fascinating journey with a distinctive style and feel that permeates the film from its opening act, shot in black and white, before the world and color palate of the film opens up with great effect. Lanthimos' approach is aggressive but self assured as a bevy of themes and concepts that range from the grotesque, to the perverse and philosophical are thrown at the screen in steady succession. Its a fearless approach that unafraid of losing portions of the audience along the way. The film and story is held together and propelled by Emma Stone's central turn as Bella Baxter. Stone's performance carries the film as she makes her character's journey believable and organic with an effortless ease as we see the character move from innate, instinctive, impulses into a fully defined persona. She has an impressive ability to make every step of journey feel authentic all the while never losing her comedic timing during some of the film's more insane and absurd moments. If not for Stone's fearless turn, Mark Ruffalo could have easily stolen the entire film from a lesser actress. Ruffalo's turn as the swarmy and nefarious lawyer is a true testament to his talent as actor. Ruffalo works against his nice guy type to deliver an overconfident lothario who quickly loses control of Baxter before being ultimately ruined financially and emotionally by her. Ruffalo and Stone work off each incredibly well which really gives the film an almost manic and vibrant energy it never manages to recapture in the back half of the film. There's a definite sense that film starts to lose a bit of steam in the final act which drags here and there which would have been helped with some judicious edits. Willem Dafoe, Ramy Youssef and Jerrod Carmichael round out the cast with each turning in subtly effective performances in limited screen time. Much like one of Dr. Godwin Baxter's experiments, Poor Things, is a fascinating amalgam of ideas and concepts that results in something singular and distinctive.
A-
