POOR THINGS : Tuesday 26th December 2023.

I saw the MA15+ Rated 'POOR THINGS' at my local independent movie theatre this week, and this black comedy fantasy film is Co-Produced and Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos whose prior feature film offerings take in his debut in 2001 with 'My Best Friend' and which he would follow up with 'Dogtooth' in 2009, and then his first English language film 'The Lobster' in 2015, 'The Killing of a Sacred Deer' in 2017 and 'The Favourite' in 2018. This film is based on the 1992 novel of the same name by Alasdair Gray. The film saw its World Premiere showcasing at the Venice International Film Festival in early September this year where it won the Golden Lion. It was released Stateside earlier this month and is scheduled to be released in the UK on 12th January, having so far grossed US$6M against a production budget of US$35M and garnering universal critical acclaim.

The film opens up in London, Victorian era England where scientist and surgeon Dr. Godwin 'God' Baxter (Willem Dafoe) is performing surgery on a cadaver to an audience of students, who under their breath deride his monstrous appearance. One such student, Max McCandles (Ramy Youssef) is singled out to become his assistant on the strength of a paper he wrote which grabbed the attention of Baxter. McCandles is welcomed to the grand home of Baxter where he meets with the Doctor's maid Mrs. Prim (Vicki Pepperdine). McCandles is tasked with recording the progress made by Baxter's ward - a childlike young woman named Bella (Emma Stone, who also Co-Produces here), whose intelligence is rapidly developing almost by the day. 

In time, Baxter tells McCandles that the woman who was heavily pregnant at the time, had committed suicide by throwing herself off a bridge into the River Thames, and that she had died only moments before he retrieved the body and that rigour mortis had not yet set in. He resurrected her lifeless corpse by replacing her brain with the brain of her still-living baby, resulting in her now having the mind of an infant child. 

With Baxter's blessing, McCandles asks for Bella's hand in marriage, on the condition that that the pair never leave the house, because of the bad influences, dangers and violence that exists in the world outside the security of their own home. Bella accepts but, desiring freedom to explore the world and experience adventures in her own right as her mind matures, runs off with foppish lawyer Duncan Wedderburn (Mark Ruffalo) who was brought in by Baxter to execute a marriage contract, and who became infatuated with Bella upon their first meeting. Reluctantly Baxter agrees to let Bella go. Godwin starts a new experiment with a young woman named Felicity (Margaret Qualley), whose intelligence is developing at a much slower pace than Bella's did.

So Bella and Wedderburn embark on a grand adventure, starting in Lisbon, Portugal where the two have frequent sex. Bella becomes difficult for Duncan to control as she is not yet mature enough to engage in polite social etiquette and just speaks her mind on a whim. So he smuggles her onto a cruise ship for a change of scenery. Once on board, she becomes friendly with passengers Martha (Hannah Schygulla) and Harry (Jerrod Carmichael) who open her mind to philosophy. Wedderburn becomes increasingly exasperated and begins drinking more heavily and gambling. 

During a stop at Alexandria, Egypt, where Harry and Bella are enjoying a lavish lunch, Harry shows Bella the miserable plight of the locals, the abject poverty in which they live and the resultant death of numerous young children and babies, at which Bella becomes distraught and sobs uncontrollably. Returning to her cabin she finds Wedderburn passed out on their bed in a drunken stupor covered in cash from his gambling winnings. Wracked with guilt over the poverty she witnessed she collects up all the cash and donates away the winnings, which are in turn stolen by a couple of opportunistic crew members whom Bella believed she could trust to do the right thing and pass on the cash to the people who desperately needed it the most.

Unable to afford the remaining trip, the pair are kicked off the ship at Marseille, France after which they make their way to Paris. Having run out of money, Bella begins working at a brothel clearing twenty French francs per client, which only serves to further enrage Wedderburn resulting in his mental breakdown, and which finally leads her to abandon him. At the brothel, she comes under the tutelage of Madame Swiney (Kathryn Hunter), has no shortage of clients and befriends fellow prostitute Toinette, (Suzy Bemba) who introduces her to socialism.

Meanwhile, back in London, Baxter is terminally ill. He asks McCandles to locate Bella and to return her to him. McCandles does so after tracking down Wedderburn, who has been confined to an institution following his breakdown. Upon her return to London, Bella reconciles with Baxter and renews her vows with McCandles. The two are interrupted by Wedderburn and General Alfie Blessington (Christopher Abbott) at the alter on their wedding day, at which Baxter is giving away Bella. 

Blessington, who calls Bella by her former name of Victoria, reveals that they were married before her disappearance and that he has come to reclaim her after Wedderburn posted an ad with a picture of Bella in the newspaper. Bella abandons Max at the alter before exchanging their vows to learn of her past life. She quickly comes to the realisation that her former husband has a violent and sadistic streak and that she had in fact committed suicide to escape their unhappy marriage and to save her unborn child from a life of misery. He basically imprisons Bella to the confines of his mansion and threatens her at gunpoint to submit to genital mutilation after which he will plant his seed inside her, and demands she drink a chloroform-laced cocktail to sedate her for the procedure. She tosses the cocktail in his face, causing him to shoot himself in the foot before succumbing to the chloroform. 

Baxter dies peacefully with Bella and McCandles at his side, with his final words being that his surgery is now hers and that his life has been interesting. Bella decides to carry on Baxters work with the help of McCandles, Toinette and Mrs. Prim. Blessington is seen on the operating table where his brain is swapped with that of a goat, while Felicity's intelligence is finally improving. Bella is seen in the garden of her London home with a cocktail in one hand and studying from a book for her final medical exams. 

For me 'Poor Things' failed to land in the same way that it does with the majority of other critics who have given the film its almost universal blessing. That said, you can't help but admire Director Yorgos Lanthimos and his creation of a steampunk bizarro world of OTT characters, locales and emotions writ large mostly by a never been better and a career defining performance by Emma Stone, an equally far removed from his usual roles Mark Ruffalo, and the always dependable Willem Dafoe channeling Doctor Frankenstein. The production values and costume designs are all top notch and look as though Lanthimos squeezed out very cent from his US$35M production budget to bring us a film that looks greater than the sum of its parts. However, this film is hard to pigeon hole, and at a run time of 141 minutes and a film that feels more like an absurdist sex comedy than an intellectual coming of age fantasy drama I couldn't help but feel just a little meh! after all the explicit sex scenes and the vividly rendered set pieces.

'Poor Things' merits three claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a potential five claps. 

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

What's new in Odeon's this week : Thursday 29th September 2022.

Held annually in Austin, Texas, this years 'Fantastic Fest' runs from 22nd until 29th September, and as the official website says 'Fantastic Fest is the largest genre film festival in the US, specialising in horror, fantasy, sci-fi, action and just plain fantastic movies from all around the world. The festival is dedicated to championing challenging and thought-provoking cinema, celebrating new voices and new stories from around the world and supporting new filmmakers'. Working 'with various other festivals, archives, cinematheques and individuals to spotlight lesser-known film regions, luminaries and more in an ongoing effort to expand the general knowledge and appreciation of cinema, we are committed to supporting film in its most provocative, ground-breaking and underseen forms, and giving the audience a chance to find new favourites and future genre classics'. 

As a guide, here are just some of the eighty or so films being showcased at this years festival :-

* 'All Jacked Up and Full of Worms' - from the USA and Directed by Alex Phillips. A psychedelic journey of self-discovery leads to romance when a man shares his addiction to psychotropic worms . . .  and Chicago will never be the same again.

* 'Amazing Elisa' - from Spain, and Directed by Sadrac Gonzalez-Perellon. Elisa is an unusual twelve-year-old girl. Obsessed with the heroine from her favourite comic book, she’s convinced that she has the same superpowers. World Premier.

* 'The Antares Paradox' - from Spain and Directed by Luis Tinoco Pineda. Alexandra, a SETI scientist searching for extraterrestrial life, arrives for the night shift at an astronomy observatory and discovers that the radio antenna has intercepted a signal from outer space. World Premier.

* 'Attachment' - from Denmark and Directed by Gabriel Bier Gislason. Following a whirlwind romance Leah has a seizure and injures herself, and Maja accompanies her new girlfriend to the Hasidic area of London, where she must face off with Leah’s protective mother, a peanut allergy, and a dybbuk — a Jewish spirit that possesses victims.

* 'The Banshees of Inisherin' - from Ireland and the USA and Directed by Martin McDonagh. Two lifelong friends find themselves at a stalemate when one abruptly ends their relationship, with alarming consequences for both of them. US Premier.

* 'Bones and All' - from the USA and Directed by Luca Guadagnino. A story of first love between Maren, a young woman learning how to survive on the margins of society, and Lee, an intense and disenfranchised drifter; a liberating road odyssey of two young people coming into their own, searching for identity and chasing beauty in a perilous world that cannot abide who they are.

* 'Decision to Leave' - from South Korea and Directed by Park Chan-wook. Hotshot Busan detective Hae-jun’s latest case finds him staring deep into the eyes of a dead hiker and then up at the vertiginous cliff from which he fell. Was this an accident or was foul play involved? This is the riddle he must unravel when he interrogates the man’s Chinese wife, Seo-rae, a caretaker who doesn’t seem particularly heartbroken by the tragedy.

* 'Deep Fear' - from France and Directed by Gregory Beghin. Following a night of heavy drinking, Sonia surprises her pals with a tour of the Paris catacombs. Led by urban explorer Ramy, the hesitant friends are introduced to a community of 'cataphiles' offering a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to venture deep into a recently unearthed and completely uncharted section of the catacombs. North American Premier.

* 'The Elderly' - from Spain and Directed by Raul Cerezo and Fernando Gonzalez Gomez. An octogenarian starts behaving strangely in the wake of his wife's sudden suicide as he prepares for events leading up to a mysterious apocalypse. US Premier.

* 'Evil Eye' - from Mexico and Directed by Isaac Ezban. Left in the care of her eccentric grandmother, Nala discovers that the tough old lady has sinister plans for her chronically ill sister, Luna. International Premier.

* 'Family Dinner' - from Austria and Directed by Peter Hengl. Simi, a teenager who is self-conscious about her size, visits her nutritionist aunt Claudia hoping to lose some weight, but her trip gets off to a weird start and then quickly gets even weirder. 

* 'Final Cut' - from France and Directed by Michel Hazanavicius. Things go badly for a small film crew shooting a low budget zombie movie when they are attacked by real zombies. US Premier.

* 'The Five Devils' - from France and Directed by Lea Mysius. A young girls ability to smell and reproduce any scent transports her into her family's troubled past. 

* 'Flowing' - from Italy and Belgium and Directed by Paolo Strippoli. A broken family violently confronts their tragic past as the Roman sewers exhale a hallucinatory toxin that revives repressed memories and fears. World Premier.

* 'Holy Spider' - from Denmark and Directed by Ali Abassi. A journalist descends into the dark underbelly of the Iranian holy city of Mashhad as she investigates the serial killings of sex workers by the so called 'Spider Killer', who believes he is cleansing the streets of sinners.

* 'Kids vs. Aliens' - from the USA and Directed by Jason Eisener. An all-time rager of a teen house party turns to terror when aliens attack, forcing two warring siblings to band together to survive the night. World Premier.

* 'Manticore' - from Spain and Directed by Carlos Vermut. A video game designer's trauma following a fire manifests in a frightening obsession. US Premier.

* 'The Menu' - from the USA and Directed by Mark Mylod. A couple travel to a coastal island to eat at an exclusive restaurant where the chef has prepared a lavish menu, with some shocking surprises. US Premier.

* 'Nightmare' - from Norway and Directed by Kjersti Helen Rasmussen. Mona's domestic bliss with her devoted boyfriend unravels as her night terrors intensify, but attempts at lucid dreaming reveal something sinister. World Premier.

* 'The Offering' - from the USA and Directed by Oliver Park. A family struggling with loss finds themselves at the mercy of an ancient demon trying to destroy them from the inside. US Premier.

* 'One and Four' - from China and Directed by Jigme Trinley. A mountain forest ranger is visited in his isolated cabin by one man after another on a snowy mountain where poaching is widespread.

* 'Piggy' - from Spain and Directed by Carlota Pereda. An overweight teen is bullied by a clique of cool girls poolside while holidaying in her village. The long walk home will change the rest of her life.

* 'Sick' - from the USA and Directed by John Hyams. As the pandemic steadily brings the world to a halt, Parker and her best friend Miri decide to quarantine at the family lake house alone - or so they think. US Premier.

* 'Smile' - from the USA and Directed by Parker Finn. After witnessing a bizarre, traumatic incident involving a patient, Dr. Rose Cotter starts experiencing frightening occurrences that she can't explain. World Premier.

* 'Something in the Dirt' - from the USA and Directed by Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead. A pair of Los Angeles misfits investigation into the city's occult history sends them down a rabbit hole that threatens there friendship and sanity. 

* 'Swallowed' - from the USA and Directed by Carter Smith. Forced to mule drugs on their crossing of the southern US border, two friends realise that the packages they ingested seem to be alive.

* 'Triangle of Sadness' - from Sweden and Directed by Ruben Ostlund. A celebrity model couple are invited on a luxury cruise for the uber-rich, helmed by an unhinged boat captain, but what first appeared Instagrammable ends catastrophically, leaving the survivors stranded on a desert island and fighting for survival. US Premier.

* 'Venus' - from Spain and Directed by Jaume Balaguero. Injured in an attempt to steal from her boss, Lucia hides with her sister, unaware that something's very wrong with the rundown building's residents. US Premier.

* 'Vesper' - from Belgium, France and Lithuania and Directed by Kristina Buozyte and Bruno Samper. In a post-apocalyptic world, a peasant girl's encounter with an oligarch's daughter leads to a discovery that could reverse ecological collapse. US Premier.

* 'We Might As Well Be Dead' - from Germany and Romania and Directed by Natalia Sinelnikova. When a dog disappears from a secluded high rise building, fear spreads among the residents, threatening to turn their utopia in Absurdistan. 

For all the other films and details about this years 'Fantastic Fest' you can go to the official website at : https://fantasticfest.com/

Turning attention back to this weeks five new films coming to an Odeon near you, each Directed by a first time feature film maker, we launch with a mystery comedy offering set in the West End of 1950's London, where plans for a movie version of a smash-hit play come to an abrupt halt after a pivotal member of the crew is murdered. Then we have a supernatural horror film where after witnessing a bizarre, traumatic incident involving a patient, a doctor starts to experience frightening occurrences that she can't explain. Next up is an Irish black comedy about a prodigal son returning to his hometown to seek salvation for his sins. This is followed by two friends who form a suicide pact and set out to have one final day to take care of unfinished business, before closing out the week with a film set in downtown Manhattan, where over the course of an evening a family gathers to celebrate Thanksgiving, but soon tensions rise to the surface.

Whatever your taste in big screen film entertainment is this week - be it any of the five latest release new films as Previewed below, or those doing the rounds currently on general release or as Reviewed and Previewed in previous Blog Posts here at Odeon Online, you are most welcome to share your movie going thoughts, opinions and observations by leaving your relevant, succinct and appropriate views in the Comments section below this or any other Post. We'd love to hear from you, and in the meantime, enjoy your big screen Odeon outing during the coming week.

'SEE HOW THEY RUN' (Rated M) - this UK and US Co-Produced mystery comedy film is Directed by Tom George in his feature film making debut. The film was released in the UK in early September, in the US in mid-September and here in Australia in late September, having so far grossed approaching US$13M and generated mixed or average Reviews along the way. 

In 1953 London, plans for a movie version of a smash-hit play come to an abrupt halt after a pivotal member of the crew is murdered. When the world-weary Inspector Stoppard (Sam Rockwell) and the eager rookie Constable Stalker (Saoirse Ronan) take on the case, they find themselves thrown into a puzzling whodunit within the glamorously sordid world of underground theatre, investigating the mysterious homicide at their own peril. Also starring Adrien Brody, Ruth Wilson, Harris Dickinson, David Oyelowo and Reece Shearsmith. 

'SMILE' (Rated MA15+) - is an American supernatural horror film Written and Directed by Parker Finn in his feature film making debut, and is based on his own 2020 short film 'Laura Hasn't Slept'. The film saw its World Premier screening at Fantastic Fest, in Austin, Texas, on 22nd September and goes on general release in the US and here in Australia from this week. After witnessing a bizarre, traumatic incident involving a patient, Dr. Rose Cotter (Sosie Bacon) starts experiencing frightening occurrences that she can't explain. As an overwhelming terror begins taking over her life, Rose must confront her troubling past in order to survive and escape her horrifying new reality. Also starring Kyle Gallner, Caitlin Stasey, Rob Morgan and Kal Penn. 

'REDEMPTION OF A ROGUE' (Rated MA15+) - this Irish comedy drama film is Written, Co-Produced and Directed by Philip Doherty in his feature film making debut. Here, Jimmy Cullen (Aaron Monaghan) carries a leather, black doctor's bag around with him containing the rope he plans to hang himself with. Filled with guilt and shame, he returns to his hometown of Ballylough in the cold austere beauty of West Cavan. As soon as Jimmy visits, his ailing father breathes his last. Thunder rumbles and rain starts to pour. But there is a condition in the will . . . his father cannot be buried on a wet day. Stuck in this 'Groundhog Day-like' purgatory, days roll into weeks as Jimmy seeks redemption for sins committed in the past. Through love, he finds it in the most sacrificial and outlandish manner possible. The film has picked up three award wins and four nominations since its World Premier screening at the Galway Film Festival in Ireland in mid-July 2020, was released in Ireland in mid-August 2021, in the UK in early October 2021 and only now does it get a release in Australia, having garnered widespread critical acclaim.

'ON THE COUNT OF THREE' (Rated MA15+) - is an American black comedy Directed, Co-Produced and starring Jerrod Carmichael in his feature film making debut. The film saw its World Premier screening at the Sundance Film Festival back in January 2021 and was released Stateside in mid-May this year having taken just US$55K at the Box Office so far, but generating largely positive Critical acclaim. Val (Jerrod Carmichael) is sick of life. He hates his job, and freaks out when he learns his girlfriend is pregnant. The one person who gets him is his traumatised best friend Kevin (Christopher Abbott), who’s currently in hospital after a suicide attempt. And so Val breaks Kevin out and convinces him they should both go out with a bang. But only after a day that’s part reminiscence and part reckoning, as Val wants to confront his abusive dad, while Kevin seeks revenge on the child psychiatrist who abused him. Of all days, though, why must everything go pear-shaped today? Also starring Tiffany Haddish, J.B. Smoove and Henry Winkler. 

'THE HUMANS' (Rated M) - this American psychological drama film is Written and Directed by Stephen Karam in his feature film making debut and is based on his own Tony Award winning one-act stage play of the same name. It saw its World Premier showcasing at last years Toronto International Film Festival in September 2021, was released in the US in late November last year and only now does it get a release in Australia. The film has garnered generally positive Reviews. Set inside a pre-war duplex in downtown Manhattan, we follow, over the course of an evening, the Blake family as they gather to celebrate Thanksgiving. As darkness falls outside the crumbling building, mysterious things start to go bump in the night and family tensions reach boiling point. Starring Richard Jenkins, Jayne Houdyshell, Amy Schumer, Steven Yuen, Beanie Feldstein and June Squibb.

With five new release movie offerings this week to tempt you out to your local Odeon, remember to share your movie going thoughts with your other like minded cinephile friends afterwards here at Odeon Online. In the meantime, I'll see you sometime somewhere at your local Odeon in the week ahead.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-