366: Poor Things

[00:00:00] Hey everybody, it's Henry with the Film Buds Podcast. Please make sure to rate, review and subscribe to the show.

[00:00:05] And if you're listening to this on YouTube, please let us know your thoughts in the comments. Thanks.

[00:00:12] 74. Let's get to Poor Things, which is the last Best Picture nominee of 2024 that I have not yet covered on the show or we have not covered as a show.

[00:00:23] And I have listed all the other episodes in the show notes of this one, so check out all those other episodes.

[00:00:29] I wanted to make sure to cover everything in one way or the other, so I'm happy we're finally getting it done. We're a little late, but so what?

[00:00:36] So Poor Things is now on Hulu, I believe, to stream. It's directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, stars Emma Stone, Mark Ruffalo, Willem Dafoe, Rami Youssef, Vicki Pepperdine, a few others.

[00:00:53] And the synopsis is, On account of the fantastical evolution of Bella Baxter, a young woman brought back to life by the brilliant and unorthodox scientist Dr. Godwin Baxter.

[00:01:06] So I had seen most of Yorgos Lanthimos's films up until this point. I saw The Lobster first, which I think that was his sort of breakout in terms of teaming up with A24 and he's done that ever since, if I'm not mistaken.

[00:01:21] When I saw that one, I was like, who is this guy? This movie is so strange and weird, but it's also very refreshing because it's a very unique voice in a variety of ways.

[00:01:30] And then I saw Killing of a Sacred Deer, same thing. I was like, what the heck is this movie? Like, it's definitely not one for everyone or him in general.

[00:01:38] He's a very abstract, intentionally offbeat in terms of his style.

[00:01:45] And when I had heard about this one, I was very excited. I love any sort of Frankenstein-esque story. I love Emma Stone. I love Mark Ruffalo.

[00:01:54] And at this point, I'm definitely watching anything that Yorgos directs. I'm looking forward to his next movie too.

[00:02:00] But I knew that because of how weird this experience was going to be, I had to make sure I was in the right mindset.

[00:02:08] I wish I had seen it in theaters, but I was like, all right, I got to be ready for this movie. It's going to take a lot to get into it.

[00:02:15] Not in a bad way, just you got to be ready for it. And I thought it was one of the best movies I'd seen in ages.

[00:02:25] Like, it would have definitely been in my top 10 list. It's one of, I think, Emma Stone's, if not her absolute best performance to date.

[00:02:33] It's my favorite Yorgos Lanthimos film so far. Mark Ruffalo is incredible in it.

[00:02:38] Like, it is truly one of the...I don't want to keep repeating myself, but this one absolutely warrants this sort of a description.

[00:02:47] There's nothing else like it. It is so odd in the utmost sense.

[00:02:52] The movie, like for one thing visually, one of the best looking movies maybe of all time that maybe is a stretch, but it really is.

[00:03:00] There is such a mixture, a perfect mixture of visual style calling everything back from silent film with like iris transitions and the fisheye lens which is very signature Yorgos.

[00:03:17] I don't know how he was able to mix together all of these very, very different visual styles and aesthetics and have it all feel cohesive.

[00:03:28] Because the first part, it's not really a spoiler, the first part is in black and white and then at least what I got from it is as she develops as a person, it becomes more and more vibrant.

[00:03:39] At least to a certain degree. And if you want to see a perfect showcase or example for use of black and white cinematography and of color, watch this movie.

[00:03:51] It really does feel like a painting at times in terms of the individual shots and everything is different.

[00:03:57] You never know what the heck is going to come next visually or story wise.

[00:04:02] The story itself, like it's a Frankenstein coming of age story and it incorporates very arthouse style.

[00:04:12] It incorporates great horror, body horror. The score is incredible.

[00:04:18] I feel like it's almost similar to how I was talking about Dune 2 where it's so good and everything is so great that it's hard to even give it due justice.

[00:04:28] Like it's hard to be creative in how I talk about it because there aren't many flaws at all.

[00:04:33] I think the only thing I would point out if I had to say anything is it's a little long.

[00:04:39] It's like 2 hours 20 minutes. I think there were points in the middle where they're on the journey.

[00:04:45] Emma Stone and Mark Ruffalo that is where it maybe treaded water a little too long at certain points or anything like that, but not a big deal.

[00:04:53] Still a phenomenal film. I cannot wait to see the rest of Jorgis' future work.

[00:05:00] He is an amazing filmmaker and if you have not seen any of his movies, I don't know which one is the best to start with.

[00:05:07] They're all really out there so I think that if you want to see I guess the most acclaimed of his ones so far, you could start with this one.

[00:05:16] But I think The Lobster or The Killing of Sick or Deer and the ones he's done before that, they're not terrible choices to start.

[00:05:23] You're never really going to find the most accessible films because all of them are very challenging but in a very good way.

[00:05:31] Some other notable points, if we're talking about the cinematography visual style, I think the best is when they're on the ship.

[00:05:39] It is so gorgeous. The color palette, the sky, the costumes, I cannot say enough about it.

[00:05:47] The sequence towards the end, I won't spoil it because it is a bit of a twist. Who shows up and how that all plays out, I love that.

[00:05:54] The reveal of what Willem Dafoe, who is the father of Emma Stone, I think the body horror reveal of what happened to her, that's great.

[00:06:05] There's a lot of shocking what the hell moments in this but they all work. It's very very funny, intentionally so.

[00:06:11] It's a very funny movie. I love Jorgos' timing and deadpan humor and offbeat humor, he's great at that.

[00:06:18] So highly highly recommend it. You've got to be in the right mood as I said but it is absolutely worth watching.

[00:06:24] So that is a heavy five out of five.