Poor Things (2023)

Posted on January 11, 2024March 7, 2024 by Martin: Through the Silver Screen

© Searchlight Pictures, Film4, TSG Entertainment and Element Pictures

Poor Things – Film Review

Cast: Emma Stone, Mark Ruffalo, Willem Dafoe, Ramy Youssef, Christopher Abbott, Jerrod Carmichael, Margaret Qualley, Kathryn Hunter

Director: Yorgos Lanthimos

Synopsis: In Victorian Europe, a young woman is brought back to life by an unorthodox scientist…

Review: The task of boiling down the filmography of any director to just one single word would be a challenge, to say the least. However, if one were to apply this challenge to the filmography of Yorgos Lanthimos’s career, the most suitable word would unquestionably be idiosyncratic. From the unique and absurdist romantic drama The Lobster, the unnerving psychological revenge thriller Killing of a Sacred Deer and a period drama unlike any other in The Favourite. Every time he steps behind the camera, the final product is alwas something unique, and he emphatically continues that streak with his quirkiest, funniest and quite possibly best film to date.

Set in Victorian times, after a young pregnant woman (Stone) commits suicide, the unorthodox scientist Dr Godwin Baxter (Dafoe), resurrects her by transplanting the brain of her still-born baby into her body. Now going by the name of Bella, a fully grown woman with all the behaviours and characteristics of a toddler, Bella is keen to grow and learn more about the world. However, Godwin or “God” as Bella affectionately calls him, wants to keep his Frankenstein-esque creation inside to study her. Yearning for freedom and autonomy from her “father”, she runs off with the sleazy and debauched lawyer Duncan Wedderburn (Ruffalo) where she becomes increasingly curious about the beautiful, mad and complicated world around her.

Adapted from the 1992 novel of the same name by Alasdair Gray, within the first few minutes, it becomes immediately apparent as to how perfectly suited the source material is to the Greek filmmaker’s quirky and unique style. Reuniting with Tony McNamara, who co-wrote The Favourite, the script balances the dark and let’s be honest, horrifying nature of Bella’s origin story with some of the blackest and outrageously funny humour, with some of the most hilarious euphemisms you will have ever heard. Seeing a character, essentially a child in the body of a full-grown woman, acting in the unfiltered manner she does, is uproariously entertaining.

She will blurt out anything and everything that comes to her mind, with no concept of manners or whether what she is saying is foul-mouthed or taboo while being blissfully unaware of the societal constraints that would have been expected of women at that time. As if that wasn’t hilarious enough, as her brain rapidly develops, the film gleefully extracts humour from the efforts of the men around her, particularly Wedderburn, from desperately trying to stop Bella from discovering herself. The film is unashamedly feminist and liberating in its celebration of empowerment and social discovery.

A bold and out-of-the-ordinary premise, featuring a character’s unique journey through the complexities of life could have completely fallen apart had the casting not been pitch-perfect. Fortunately, in Emma Stone’s hands, she rises to the challenge magnificently with one of the finest performances of her career, further reinforcing why she and Lanthimos have seemingly become each other’s muses. With her mannerisms and struggle to enunciate properly in the early stages, she expertly sells the early stages of Bella’s journey as a naïve and innocent soul who has effectively just been born. Furthermore, as the film progresses and her brain’s rapid development takes hold, to see her stifle the attempts of those around her to control her as she becomes her own woman who is firmly in control of her own destiny is endlessly satisfying.

Alongside Stone’s sublime leading performance, every member of this cast fully understands their assignments and are fully in tune with the film’s peculiar vibe. Having spent years as the calm and measured scientist in the MCU, who occasionally loses his cool and becomes a green rage monster, Ruffalo’s Wedderburn is worlds away from that. A slimy and rascally lawyer who seeks to use Bella as nothing more than an object to engage in sex to control his raging libido, only to become exasperated when her desires for education and discovery become too much for him to control is hilarious to watch. Meanwhile, Dafoe, who is no stranger to playing an eccentric scientist (albeit one is not quite so disfigured), is also on reliably excellent form with the screentime that he has.

Embracing the quirky madness of this dark and twisted fairytale (of sorts), Robbie Ryan’s cinematography visually dazzling blend of black-and-white and an extremely vivid colour palette, while regularly deploying fish-eye lenses (which is rather appropriate for this fish-out-of-water story) left the audience feeling disorientated through this fever dream of a journey through Victorian Europe. A journey that is beautifully complemented by Holly Waddington’s immaculate costume design and the production design by Shona Heath and James Price. The oddity of this odyssey from the perspective of one of the most unique characters will almost certainly rub some people up the wrong way. Yet, one cannot dispute that the world of Hollywood filmmaking is a better place with directors such as Lanthimos bringing one-of-a-kind films to the table, in every sense of the word.

Unabashedly bizarre and filled with riotous and offbeat dialogue, Lanthimos has made his most eccentric, darkest and funniest film yet, while getting a career-best performance from Emma Stone.

2010-2019, Film Review

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019)

Posted on August 16, 2019August 9, 2025 by Martin: Through the Silver Screen

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood – Film Review

Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie, Kurt Russell, Margaret Qualley, Timothy Olyphant, Austin Butler, Dakota Fanning, Al Pacino

Director: Quentin Tarantino

Synopsis: Set in 1960s Hollywood, amid fears that the industry is leaving him behind, actor Rick Dalton (DiCaprio) and his stunt double Clith Booth (Pitt), try to reignite Dalton’s career, all the while new actors like Sharon Tate (Robbie) are becoming the new faces of the industry…

Review: There are certain directors who, whenever they come out with a new film, it becomes the subject of much anticipation and hype in the build-up to the film’s release, and Quentin Tarantino’s films definitely fall under that bracket. As he so often does, Tarantino fuses his passion for the craft of filmmaking and blends that with his passion for a bygone era of Hollywood, as for his ninth and seemingly penultimate film, takes the viewers on a journey to 1960s Tinseltown.

It’s 1969, and after starring in a hugely popular TV show, actor Rick Dalton’s career has hit a rocky patch. He has a moment where reality bites hard, and he realises that his days as a leading man are seemingly drawing to a close, as the industry is leaving him by the wayside with other actors on their way to becoming the star that Rick used to be. Determined to stay relevant, alongside his stunt double and great friend Cliff Booth, Rick strives to pick himself up and reinvent his career.

Tarantino’s scripts of the past have thrived on the dialogue to drive the film forward, and in many cases given that it is superbly written dialogue, it serves the story extremely well. Through the sharp dialogue, it makes the lives of the charismatic characters that Tarantino so often brings to the screen absolutely worth investing in. Leo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt are both on excellent form as Rick and Cliff. Though they might be as A list as you can get in present day Hollywood, both have excellent charisma and they form a solid friendship with one another. It’s not quite a Vincent Vega and Jules Winfield level of camaraderie, but it comes mighty close.

As well as the sharply written dialogue, a QT movie is known for being a touch on the violent side. However, in this instance, the violence is dialled back significantly as Tarantino gives us a much more dialogue-driven film. One that takes a nuanced, in-depth, fascinating look at the Golden Age of Hollywood, that has the careers of Rick and Cliff front and centre, with this era as the backdrop in all of its glory. Though these men are both fictionalised characters, there’s something about both their performances that makes them feel like they were cut from the same cloth as the stars that dominated the industry at this time. In a cast that is well stacked with considerable talent, the standouts besides DiCaprio and Pitt, are Margaret Qualley’s Manson family member, and a scene stealing performance from a young actor who gives Rick a damn good run for his money.

Though she was a perfect choice to play Sharon Tate, Margot Robbie, frustratingly, does not get nearly enough screen time as her male lead co-stars. What’s more, in the scarce screen-time she is given, she has frustratingly few lines, which feels like a scandalous waste of her talent. Nevertheless, Robbie works wonders with the little material she was given which honours the tragic actress. Given that a Tarantino Picture is usually in the realm of three hours, the first act of the film is a bit of a slow burn that, narratively speaking, is a tad uneven. It takes its time to find its footing and truly hit its stride. The excellent production design and costumes ensures that 1960s Hollywood is captured with a real sense of authenticity. Yet even with that, the near 2-hour 40-minute run time does feel somewhat excessive.

Meshing fact with fiction has produced some uproariously entertaining moments in previous Tarantino flicks, and OUATIH‘s best use of this blend of truth and fantasy is in the film’s enthralling and nail-biting third act. You may know of the tragic fate that befell Sharon Tate on that fateful August night, but to see how those events would play out in Tarantino’s wacky, but brilliant mind is what you pay to see when you come to watch a flick by Quentin Tarantino. It may not be his strongest film, but like Tarantino reminiscing about the Golden Age of Hollywood, present-day Hollywood may find itself reminiscing if, after his tenth picture, Tarantino decides to hang up the director’s chair for good.

A passionate love letter to the Hollywood of yesteryear, fused with the typical well written QT dialogue and a superb pair of leading performances from two of the most charismatic actors in the business.

2010-2019, Film Review

The Nice Guys (2016)

Posted on June 19, 2016June 23, 2025 by Martin: Through the Silver Screen

The Nice Guys – Film Review

Cast: Russell Crowe, Ryan Gosling, Margaret Qualley, Angourie Rice

Director: Shane Black

Synopsis: Two unlikely detectives are pitted together to solve the case of the death of a porn star, and soon find themselves on the hunt for a missing girl.

Review: Everyone loves a story about a detective or a private investigator. Stories such as these are packed into popular culture with the many portrayals of Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes coming to mind. So often, you think of these private investigators as good guys, doing a job for the good of the community, investigating crime and so on. Yet in the case of the comedy duo at the centre of the new film from Shane Black, as the film’s poster suggests, they’re really not nice guys, but they do try to make the world a better place and are given the chance to do just that when a case falls into their hands.

Shane Black’s last directorial outing, Iron Man 3, was a little bit different after his smash hit and directorial debut Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, but here he returns to that genre with great aplomb. It’s 1977 Los Angeles, and our two detectives Jackson Healy (Russell Crowe) and Holland March (Ryan Gosling) become involved in the hunt for a missing girl named Amelia, whose disappearance leads to a whole series of interconnected events that are occurring. The duo are the most unlikely partners, and given how their first meeting goes, it is somewhat amazing that they agree to work together. Yet this makes their relationship all the more interesting and hilarious to watch as their efforts to crack this case develop.

The script, penned by Black and Anthony Bagarozzi, is absolutely hilarious. The laughs are packed throughout the run time of the movie, which may be odd given the nature of the story about a missing girl, but they make it work, they make it work very well. Part of that is down to the chemistry between Gosling and Crowe, their characters are completely opposite to each other in terms of their methods, but as they say, opposites do attract and it’s certainly applicable here. The daughter of Gosling’s character, played by Angourie Rice is also excellent. Young actors can be the kiss of death in movies, but she is not the kiss of death in the slightest. The script also keeps you hooked as you watch the case develop and see all the clues that they acquire gradually form the big picture.

While Iron Man 3 is far from the greatest Marvel movie ever made, Black showed there that he certainly knows how to handle action sequences, and he demonstrates that here once again. There are some gripping and tense shootout scenes, packed with some terrific camerawork, that again manage to weave humour into them and it’s done very well indeed. Black from his previous written works certainly knows the genre well and how to make it pretty damn entertaining.

There are some characters that you would have maybe liked to have seen a bit more of, but it cannot be denied that Black has come up trumps with a very witty, hilarious and original piece of film-making, packed with some great performances, that will have you laughing all the way through.