Poor Things (Yorgos Lanthimos, 2023)

[therewillbeblus]

Lanthimos' next feature will be Poor Things, featuring Emma Stone as “a volatile, oversexed, emancipated woman and a female Frankenstein”

[beamish14]

Lanthimos' next feature will be Poor Things, featuring Emma Stone as “a volatile, oversexed, emancipated woman and a female Frankenstein”

Never thought I'd ever see an Alasdair Gray adaptation. If you're going to make a film of one, it's definitely that or 1982, Janine. I totally forgot that Lanthimos was going to make a film of Brautigan's The Hawkline Monster. Hal Ashby tried to in the mid-80's, and Tim Burton as well during the mid-90's.

[therewillbeblus]

How's the source? Suitable for Yorgos?

[beamish14]

How's the source? Suitable for Yorgos?

Oh, definitely. He can nail the drollness and surreality very well.

Gray was such a hardline Scottish Nationalist that he likely would've wanted someone like Bill Forsyth or Lynne Ramsay to do it (come to think of it, Ramsay really could do an exemplary job).

[yoloswegmaster]

Lanthimos' next feature will be Poor Things, featuring Emma Stone as “a volatile, oversexed, emancipated woman and a female Frankenstein”

Mark Ruffalo, Ramy Youssef, and Willem Dafoe cast, with Dafoe appropriately playing the Dr. Frankenstein-esque character

Release date is September 8.

[therewillbeblus]

Teaser

[soundchaser]

Wow — not sure I’ve ever seen production design quite like that.

[domino harvey]

Looks awesome

[Matt]

Wow — not sure I’ve ever seen production design quite like that.

Looks to me not unlike some of Bo Welch’s more fanciful work (Schmigadoon, A Series of Unfortunate Events, Beetlejuice). Not sure what I think of this teaser, but I thought the trailers for The Favourite looked awful and I ended up liking the film itself.

[beamish14]

Wow — not sure I’ve ever seen production design quite like that.

Looks to me not unlike some of Bo Welch’s more fanciful work (Schmigadoon, A Series of Unfortunate Events, Beetlejuice). Not sure what I think of this teaser, but I thought the trailers for The Favourite looked awful and I ended up liking the film itself.

It really seems to do an exceptional job of translating Alasdair Gray’s illustrations to cinema

[Finch]

I almost wish they'd leave it at that teaser. I'm intrigued!

[Computer Raheem]

It's nice to see a film with an actual budget that is willing to be as surrealist and untethered to what we would call "reality" as this trailer hints the final work will be; the comparisons I've seen to early Gilliam and Jeunet are not unfounded. Also nice to see Mark Ruffalo in a real movie again!

[therewillbeblus]

And just when I thought I couldn't be more excited for this... Trailer

[yoloswegmaster]

Release date moved to December 8.

[swo17]

"Antichrist x100"

[yoloswegmaster]

This is the same guy who posted this infamous tweet, so it would be best to take anything he says with a massive grain of salt.

[Omensetter]

Alex Billington is very embarrassing, and he ranks amongst the very last few people whose opinions I'd consult. (Little surprise that a few tweets down, he calls for the firing of Carlo Chatrian; he's not a fan of the "artsy" films he screens at Berlin. Also little surprise that he goes nuts for Luc Besson's Dogman.)

Anyway, the reactions to this movie have definitely been fantastic and, without looking, it's probably what I most wish to see out of Venice/Telluride/Toronto outside Hamaguchi, Bonello, and probably a few others.

[therewillbeblus]

Yes, just glancing at snippets of reviews and there seems to be uniform praise for the way the film handles the sexual material as well, as if it's locating a novel tone in that context. Hoping the strikes don't cause this to get delayed any further, easily my most anticipated of the year

[MichaelB]

A lot of Alasdair Gray's writing is pretty much unfilmable (I'm not surprised that nobody's had a go at Lanark, although there have been a couple of stage versions), so I'll be fascinated to see how this has turned out. I'm very encouraged indeed by both the trailer and the initial reception.

[therewillbeblus]

A lot of Alasdair Gray's writing is pretty much unfilmable (I'm not surprised that nobody's had a go at Lanark, although there have been a couple of stage versions), so I'll be fascinated to see how this has turned out. I'm very encouraged indeed by both the trailer and the initial reception.

This pullquote from The Telegraph spoke to that:

This triumphant adaptation, which premiered last night at Venice, strip-mines Gray’s book for all its funniest, fizziest and sexiest ideas, and leaves the chewier, more literary stuff on paper, where it belongs. I’d say purists might bridle, but speaking as one of them, I wasn’t just relieved, but overjoyed.

Is Lanark the best (or best place to start with) Gray?

[MichaelB]

Well, it's plunging right in at the deep end - but with a writer as startlingly original as Gray, you might as well.

[beamish14]

I’d probably start with 1982, Janine or some of his short stories

[spectre]

"Antichrist x100"

"Antichrist x100" is like dividing by zero. It can't be done!

This Italian Letterboxd review may hit the mark more:

immenso servizio di cunt non contenibile

[domino harvey]

This was enthusiastically received at Venice and is now an unexpected front runner for Oscars, particularly for Stone and Ruffalo, and will likely snatch all the down line awards Barbie had been projected to win. Many called it Lanthimos’ best film as well

[DarkImbecile]

Many called it Lanthimos’ best film as well

I’ll have more fully formed thoughts later, but I absolutely loved The Favourite and am debating which is better, if that gives you any indication. It’s definitely his funniest and most outrageous, and packed with ideas; just a total delight.