Poor Things (new Yorgos Lanthimos film)

[Oosp]

This could probably go here or in Comedy Chat. Adaptation of the 1992 novel (female Frankenstein's monster with the brain of a baby) by Alasdair Gray; hits screens in September.

In the teaser, Mark Ruffalo does what I personally consider one of the funniest reactions I have ever seen at 0:22. Can't stop rewatching it. I love how completely daft it is.

[Clownbaby]

I'm never sure what I think of Yorgos Lanthimos, but his films are always interesting so I'll have to watch out for this

[zomgmouse]

read the book recently in preparation for this. casting is all wrong

[dissolute ocelot]

read the book recently in preparation for this. casting is all wrong

Does it need some Colin Farrell?

It's aaages since I read the book, and I didn't rate it as highly as some of Gray's, but there's been talk of an adaptation for ages and it's something of an art-house shoo-in for its mix of steampunk and #metoo. I think Ruffalo is a great actor, at least in films like You Can Count On Me and Margaret, but certainly not above phoning it in for trash (or the work of genius that is 13 Going On 30).

Make me a 1982 Janine film, then we'll talk.

[Oosp]

Trailer just arrived. It a very interesting.

The slap... still slaps.

[Dr Rock]

Huge fan of ol Yorgos so looking right forward to this.

[sevendaughters]

not a fan of Lanthimos but love the book, I seem to have misplaced it in my several house moves in the last few years, but authentically pervy and weird.

[Mobbd]

I like this book and this looks great!

I don't generally like it when my fave books get the movie treatment but I always wish Gray got a bit more credit and this director is pretty trustworthy. Looking forward to it.

[selectivememory]

I really like Lanthimos (The Killing of a Sacred Deer in particular is a fave of mine, though don't think I've seen any of his pre-The Lobster movies), so looking forward to this. Feel like I should probably read the book first though.

[Mobbd]

I really like Lanthimos (The Killing of a Sacred Deer in particular is a fave of mine, though don't think I've seen any of his pre-The Lobster movies), so looking forward to this. Feel like I should probably read the book first though.

Go for it. It's a lot of fun.

I am curious to know how like the book the film will be, but I hope to judge it on its own merits and not get too hung up on my love of Alasdair Gray.

[Blinder Data]

read the book recently. its setting in Victorian era Glasgow feels integral to the text, so it's quite disconcerting to see these characters transferred to a steampunk fantasy land (though I think Willem Defoe is doing a Scottish accent...?)

will be interesting to see how much Mark Ruffalo's character features - he mostly appears in retrospect via a letter, and the book is told from the POV of McCandless, played by the less famous Ramy Youssef. McCandless doesn't seem to be mentioned in any of the plot summaries released so far. maybe the trailer and promotional activity misrepresents, but it suggests quite a shift in focus from the book.

i suspect it will be interesting at the very least

[Mister Six]

Very probably my film of the year. Funny, imaginative, beautifully shot, largely exquisitely well acted (duff performance by Jerrod Charmichael, but Emma Stone's turn is a full-on tour de force that deserves every lead actress award going) and wonderfully, playfully perverse. Can't recommend it enough.

[Dr Rock]

I really like Lanthimos (The Killing of a Sacred Deer in particular is a fave of mine, though don't think I've seen any of his pre-The Lobster movies), so looking forward to this. Feel like I should probably read the book first though.

Watch Dogtooth

[Pink Gregory]

is it pathetic of me that I daren't approach Dogtooth even though it's obviously very good and will enjoy it (as I did the Lobster and the Favourite, immensely) because I'm very sensitive to even implied violence against cats, even though I've actually seen that scene on Mark Kermode's Secrets of Cinema?

Same reason I'll probably never watch Satantango.

There is another pre-Dogtooth Lanthimos film that I meant to watch ages ago but the name escapes me.

I am enjoying that he seems to be building up a little stable of recurring collaborators in his english-language films, which is always nice.

[Memorex MP3]

Same reason I'll probably never watch Satantango.

My memory of this scene is that it's like 40 minutes long

[dontpaintyourteeth]

relatively brief

[selectivememory]

Watch Dogtooth

Cheers. Enjoyed that a lot, though it was possibly the most disturbing of the films of his that I've seen. 

[greenman]

is it pathetic of me that I daren't approach Dogtooth even though it's obviously very good and will enjoy it (as I did the Lobster and the Favourite, immensely) because I'm very sensitive to even implied violence against cats, even though I've actually seen that scene on Mark Kermode's Secrets of Cinema?

Same reason I'll probably never watch Satantango.

There is another pre-Dogtooth Lanthimos film that I meant to watch ages ago but the name escapes me.

I am enjoying that he seems to be building up a little stable of recurring collaborators in his english-language films, which is always nice.

To be fair the film does play it as very disturbing indeed but doesnt linger on it.

Alps is the film he did between this and The Lobster, about a agency were people are paid to pretend to be the dead reliatives/parnters. Quite similar in style to Dogtooth but less disturbing and without any violence to animals I can remember.

[elliszeroed]

There is another pre-Dogtooth Lanthimos film that I meant to watch ages ago but the name escapes me.

Alps?

[Mobbd]

Alps?

Alpen. They meant Alpen.

[Sebastian Cobb]

is it pathetic of me that I daren't approach Dogtooth even though it's obviously very good and will enjoy it (as I did the Lobster and the Favourite, immensely) because I'm very sensitive to even implied violence against cats, even though I've actually seen that scene on Mark Kermode's Secrets of Cinema?

Same reason I'll probably never watch Satantango.

There is another pre-Dogtooth Lanthimos film that I meant to watch ages ago but the name escapes me.

I am enjoying that he seems to be building up a little stable of recurring collaborators in his english-language films, which is always nice.

I didn't really like Dogtooth but like more or less everything else, even Kinetta.

[Wet Blanket]

Really looking forward to this as I've loved pretty much everything he's made. Particularly intrigued that it's also a rare modern example of a film that had to be trimmed to get its 18 certificate off the BBFC. I thought they'd put that sort of thing behind them.

[selectivememory]

I just got back from this. Liked it, but didn't love it on the whole. Really didn't care for aesthetic. Found it quite an ugly film to look at a lot of the time, especially when it moved to colour. But it is pretty funny, and also kind of moving towards the end.

Emma Stone is great, obviously. Between this and The Curse, she's been putting in some exceptional performances lately.

[Noodle Lizard]

Really looking forward to this as I've loved pretty much everything he's made. Particularly intrigued that it's also a rare modern example of a film that had to be trimmed to get its 18 certificate off the BBFC. I thought they'd put that sort of thing behind them.

I saw it in the US, although apparently the edits had already been made prior to submission, so presumably everyone gets the same theatrical release. The changes seem fairly minor, the scene is still what it is.

I don't want to get into spoilers, but the decision did strike me as odd since The Meaning of Life features a very similar scene which was passed uncut, and both scenes are played for laughs. Eh. I think the BBFC might have just wanted to remind us they're there.

[kaprisky]

Really looking forward to this as I've loved pretty much everything he's made. Particularly intrigued that it's also a rare modern example of a film that had to be trimmed to get its 18 certificate off the BBFC. I thought they'd put that sort of thing behind them.

Films get trimmed by the BBFC all the time. The films Falcon Lake (15) and Beautiful Beings (18) were cut for potentially indecent images of children. There was also a Ukranian film that I can't remember the name of that was cut for similar reasons. The first two played on Film4 last year and while you could spot the edit in the former, it was harder to work out what was cut in the latter since it was such an unlikeable film.

The bigger question is how does a modern filmmaker contrive a situation where they could produce an indecent image of a child, that could break a law? (It played at the LFF but I didn't see it).

[Garam]

This was so good. Big laughs in the cinema mixed with walks out which is perfect. Lol at some people here in Scotland that are angry they didn't adapt some of Alasdair Gray's rants about Glasgow city council circa 1990 into the film

[Lost Oliver]

Love Lanthimos but found this to be the least weird/interesting of his so far.

That said, I have a cold atm and was in a bit of a bad mood because the audience were laughing at what I perceived to be the wrong bits and it took me out of it. One guy next to me literally slapped his thigh at one point before laughing extremely loudly. Honestly. I'm not someone who laughs out loud at something, unless I'm with friends and something really gets me, or when I do it's used socially. I'd have liked to have seen this at home alone, when some of the funny bits were left to dangle, and not screamed at by a mass of people who are only laughing because 1. They've been told it's a comedy and 2. They want other people to know they get the joke.

As you can tell I'm disappointed. Can anyone else relate? I've seen every other of his films and felt they were explained in the same way that this was. They were much more subtle. I dunno. Maybe I'm just getting miserable as I get older. Or maybe I'm acoustic.

[sevendaughters]

gonna see this at a quiet spot in the week. genuinely unsure what to expect - I don't love Lanthimos but I do like Alasdair Gray. I know they've made in more generic in setting and removed the multiple perspectives of the novel but hoping it can retain some of the book's weirdness.

[AllisonSays]

This was so good. Big laughs in the cinema mixed with walks out which is perfect. Lol at some people here in Scotland that are angry they didn't adapt some of Alasdair Gray's rants about Glasgow city council circa 1990 into the film

I'm going to see it this evening so can't comment on the film, but for me the book is about Victorian Glasgow (as a place and as a set of ideas) - like all his writing it's also just deeply, heavily embedded in a specific geography. I think it's a shame to lose that.

To be fair I'd definitely watch a film about Glasgow City Council in the 90s so maybe I'm just not the target audience for this one!

[mjwilson]

The bigger question is how does a modern filmmaker contrive a situation where they could produce an indecent image of a child, that could break a law? (It played at the LFF but I didn't see it).

Apparently the scene originally contained images where children are in the same frame as sexual activity, and it's been edited so that you're never seeing the two at the same time. (Just going off what people have said elsewhere,  I'm seeing it this afternoon.)