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| Ian McKellen's face in a close-up before a strip of film on this regrettably fold-marked poster for Bill Condon's Gods and Monsters |
Great American filmmaker Jimmy Whale's new gardener catches his interest in 1957, when the aging master is troubled by the effects of a heart attack. While he draws, he recalls episodes and highlights from his exciting life.
Gods and Monsters is written and directed by great New-Yorker filmmaker Bill Condon (Sister, Sister (1987)), adapting Christopher Bram's (Hold Tight (1988)) Father of Frankenstein (1995), a semi-fictional account of the life of filmmaker James Whale (Frankenstein (1931)).
Condon succeeds in getting a vivid film from this setup about Whale, which could have easily become a too passive, backwards-oriented item. This is avoided with a solid base in Ian McKellen's (Stardust (2007)) brilliant performance as Whale, with competent support from Lynn Redgrave (Shine (1996)) and Brendan Fraser (Blast from the Past (1999)), who are delightful here in each their own way.
Gods and Monsters serves a sentimental story filled with tenderness and a defense against the very sentimentality from the collapsing master's own sense of personal record. The score by Carter Burwell (Carol (2015)) is terrific, and the film is mighty entertaining. A minor reservation is that it in fleeting moments is too film and studio-like, SPOILER including in the last shot of Fraser, in which he acts as a monster in the rain.
Related posts:
Bill Condon: The Greatest Showman (2017) - Brace for an infectious musical show (co-writer)
Dreamgirls (2006) - Rousing star turns in unreal and sentimental musical
Watch a trailer for the film here
Cost: 10 mil. $
Box office: 6.4 mil. $ - North America alone
= Uncertain - but likely a big flop
[Gods and Monsters premiered 21 January (Sundance Film Festival) and runs 105 minutes. Shooting took place in 24 days from June - July 1997 in California. The film opened #19 to a 75k $ first weekend in North America, where it peaked at #17 and in 149 theaters (different weeks), grossing 6.4 mil. $. Regrettably the international gross numbers are not released online. If we assume a likely 13 mil. $ total gross, the film would count as a big flop. It was nominated for 3 Oscars, winning for Best Adapted Screenplay. It lost Best Actor (McKellen) to Roberto Benigni in Life Is Beautiful and in Supporting Actress (Redgrave) to Judi Dench in Shakespeare in Love. It also won 1/3 Golden Globe nominations, was nominated for a BAFTA, 3/4 Independent Spirit awards, 3 National Board of Review awards, among other honors. Roger Ebert gave the film a 3/4 star review, translating to a notch under this one. Condon returned with The Others (2000, TV-series) and theatrically with Kinsey (2004). McKellen returned in Apt Pupil (1998); Fraser in The Simpsons (1998, TV-series) and theatrically in The Mummy (1999); and Redgrave in White Lies (1998, TV movie) and theatrically in Strike! (1998). Gods and Monsters is certified fresh at 95 % with an 8.50/10 critical average.]
What do you think of Gods and Monsters?
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