Gods and Monsters (1998) or, Whale

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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?

A Serious Man (2009) - A serious masterpiece

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+ Best Movie of the Year

+ Best Dramedy of the Year + Best Breakthrough Actor of the Year: Michael Stuhlbarg

Michael Stuhlbarg seems to be looking down at the state of his life with consternation from his rooftop on the humorous, desaturated poster for Ethan and Joel Coen's A Serious Man

We follow a Jewish physics professor from Minnesota, as life deals him some blows: His wife wants a divorce, his job situation is precarious, his brother won't leave their house, where he sleeps on the couch, and ...

A Serious Man is the 14th feature from Minnesotan master writer-director brothers Ethan and Joel Coen (Fargo (1996)). It is a very well-composed and very Jewish existential dramedy peopled with some great faces and situations:
Michael Stuhlbarg (Lincoln (2012)) is a precious find as the title character, and Richard Kind (Divorce Invitation (2012)) is wonderful in a rare movie performance as the brother. The dragging, potentially depressing material in the film is suppressed through snappy, perfect editing, (also credited to the two Coens), and an underlying feeling of warmth and sympathy towards not only the main character but several figures in the bleak travesty that unfolds in the course of the narrative. As well as, of course, a good dose of distanced gallows humor.

The film opens with an unrelated Jewish folk horror short, and though the film is Jewish through and through, it is just as much a universal predicament that it depicts, so that it is a film for everyone, (mostly adults though, of course.)
The Coens strike real creative gold with this favorite of mine. It is one of their least talked about but best films.

Related posts:

2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 7 mil. $
Box office: 31.4 mil. $
= Big hit
[A Serious Man premiered 12 September (Toronto) and runs 106 minutes. The story is inspired by a mysterious rabbi the Coens knew in their adolescence. Shooting took place from September - November 2008 in Minnesota and the Czech Republic. The film opened #30 to a 251k $ opening weekend in 6 theaters (an impressive 41k $ average) in North America, where it peaked at #12 and in 262 theaters (different weeks) and grossed 9.2 mil. $ (29.3 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Italy with 3.6 mil. $ (11.5 %) and France with 3.5 mil. $ (11.1 %). The film was nominated for 2 Oscars: Best Picture (lost to The Hurt Locker) and Best Original Screenplay (lost to Mark Boal for The Hurt Locker). It was also nominated for a Golden Globe, a BAFTA, a David di Donatello award (Italy's Oscar), won 2 Independent Spirit awards out of 3 nominations, won AFI's Movie of the Year award and 2 National Board of Review awards and many more. A Serious Man is certified fresh at 89 % with a 7.9 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of A Serious Man?

Carol (2015) - Haynes' romance adaptation is a triumph

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+ Best Adaptation of the Year
+ Best Romance of the Year

The nearly eatable poster for Todd Haynes' Carol

Carol is the 6th feature from master Los Angeles filmmaker Todd Haynes (Far from Heaven (2002)), a long in the works and highly anticipated adaptation of Patricia Highsmith's groundbreaking novel The Price of Salt (1952), (later re-titled Carol), written by Oscar-nominee Phyllis Nagy (Mrs. Harris (2005)). It might be the best Highsmith adaptation to date.

Therese is a young woman working in a department store in New York in 1952, when she meets the older woman Carol, who is in the middle of a difficult divorce, and the two fall in love.

Carol is a magnificent film and a first class adaptation, a simply delicious love story that is impeccably accomplished in every aspect. It is curious that two of 2015's best films thus turn out to be spirited romances set in New York in nearly the same period, about young women working in department stores. (The other film, of course, being Brooklyn.)
I first imagined I saw Oscar-nominee Cate Blanchett (Truth (2015)) channeling Joan Crawford here, (which wouldn't have been a bad role-model to channel at all), but I don't think she does. Carol is all her, and she displays a remarkable balance between strength and touching vulnerability in the empowering role. Young Oscar-nominee Rooney Mara (Side Effects (2013)) cements herself as one of the most gifted young actresses around today beside her, and you'll catch yourself falling for her waif-like sweetness in Carol, where she resembles Audrey Hepburn quite a lot. There's a powerful, universal humanity to their relationship in the film that makes it soar and touch us, and perhaps remind some audience members of their lives' past romances.

Rooney Mara is stunning in Todd Haynes' Carol

The structure of the film pays homage to David Lean's great Brief Encounter (1945). The romance is cute SPOILER and platonic for very long, - I was nearly beginning to worry, - but once sex finally enters, it is elegant and tenderly depicted.
The production design, Oscar-nominated costumes, hair, makeup and visual concept, presenting a big palette of strong foundational colors, is striking and sumptuous as could be expected from the maker of the equally delicious, if colder Far from Heaven. It is shot by Oscar-nominee Edward Lachman (I'm Not There. (2007)) on 16 mm film and plays with obscuring its images through reflections, glass etc., which only heightens the sensuous rendition of the story. Oscar-nominee Carter Burwell's (Mr. Holmes (2015)) score is poignant, if not quite as masterful as Elmer Bernstein's (The Shootist (1976)) classical Far from Heaven score.
The supporting cast is superb: Sarah Paulson (12 Years a Slave (2013)), John Magaro (The Big Short (2015)) and Jake Lacy (Obvious Child (2014)) all bring strong portrayals, and Kyle Chandler (King Kong (2005)) is spectacular as Carol's husband, a desperate and miserable husband and father, who - through Chandler's empathic performance - comes to be more than the monster he otherwise might have been. He is an imperfect man who acts in a time of bigotry and darkness.
Carol is a film you shouldn't for anything miss seeing in a cinema. A rare treat that is bound to live on.

Related posts:

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2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]

2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
Mildred Pierce (2011, miniseries) - Haynes' spin on the Cain classic is a luxury

Watch the trailer for the film here

Cost: 11.8 mil. $
Box office: 40.3 mil. $
= Box office success
[Carol premiered May 17 (in competition in Cannes) and runs 118 minutes. Development of an adaptation had been active since at least 1996 and made impossible until now due to lack of willing financiers, scheduling difficulties (a long line of directors have been involved before Haynes assumed the job), rights issues as well as Nagy's stubborn and laudable insistence that the film SPOILER not be turned into a tragical gay story, - which have accounted for most of the major gay stories that have previously attracted the interest of the mainstream. Shooting lasted 34 days in March - April 2014 in Ohio and Kentucky, with 7 months of post in NY. Carol's wide-release, in just 780 theaters, opening weekend came in #15 with 1.4 mil. $ in North America, where it has grossed 12.6 mil. $ (32.3 % of the total gross.) Its 2nd and 3rd biggest markets have been the UK with 3.9 mil. $ (10 %) and France with 2.3 mil. $ (5.9 %). The film received a ten minute standing ovation at its Cannes premiere, where it won the Queer Palm Award, and Mara tied Best Actress with Emmanuelle Bercot of Mon Roi. At the Oscars, the film was nominated 6 times, but went home empty-handed, sorely overlooked. There was also controversy over its being left out of the Best Film and Best Director categories. Carol has rated high on countless Top 10 lists of the year and won scores of awards around the world. Carol is certified fresh at 93 % with a 8.6 critical average on Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Carol?