This Review Reveals Minor Details About the Plot.
Revenant Cutie
Plot Overview
Short shrinking violet, 1936 blonde B-girl Ida (Jessie Buckley) gets possessed by the opportunistic spirit of 1819 authoress Mary Shelly (Jessie Buckley) who spouts free verse & leads the joint in flailing dance. She/they be the life of the party until the party becomes the death of her.
In a case
of life imitating art, a lonely Frankenstein (Christian
Bale) from the pages of Mrs Shelly's novel, darkens the door
of weird science practitioner Dr. Cornelia Euphronius
(Annette Bening) to beg her for a bride. They go dig up a fresh
body (Jessie Buckley) from a pauper's grave and reinvigorate
her tout suite. Their coupling was nonconventional, to
say the least, perhaps along the lines of author Joshua Feldman:
“She was aware that she was maybe falling in love with
nineteenth century American literature as much as she was with
[her teacher]—but, in an interpretation of events
that was maybe a bit too imaginative for anyone's actual life,
she concluded that there really didn't have to be much
difference” (67).
The bride cleans up nicely though
she doesn't remember her name or her origins (“What sailor
gave you those shiners?”) Her black re-birthmark
(“The crystalline solution has stained your skin”)
but adds to her mystery. They take in the movies, his favorites
being “The Dubious Detective” and others starring Ronnie Reed
who cuts a mean rug despite his childhood polio-deformed foot. Frank's
monstrous visage excites the crowd to torches & pitchforks, so
they hit the road traveling north towards Niagara Falls where they hope to
visit a wedding chapel. They are pursued by Police Detective Jake Wiles
(Peter Sarsgaard) and his personal assistant Myrna (Penelope
Cruz)—who takes dictation for him.
Ideology
Proverbs are often eminently
practical without a whole lot of worthy virtues involved. Take
(Prov. 14:1) “Every wise woman
buildeth her house: but the foolish plucketh it down with her
hands.” Hands doing construction or demolition is action par
excellence irrespective of head or heart. Whatever the
predilections of one's home group—politics or
priorities—the house mother may either help her home stand up
against degradation or bring it down.
Ida the “Bride” doesn't know
where her home is, so she sticks with Frank. Frankenstein is
a sympathetic monster but he's hardly squeaky clean. When the mob comes for
him, his “bride” fends them off with a handheld revolver.
A sexist society is acknowledged with the female scientist publishing under her first name initial so her readers will assume a male writer. A cop who stops the perambulating pair on the road uses his authority to schtup the “bride” against the side of her car until Frank wakes up to it. He kills the cop's partner, as well. In a movie theater, a protesting girl is being shagged by her eager boyfriend in front of them until Frank bops the guy on the head. The packed audience just ignored them. Her protests (“No”) weren't loud enough to disturb the other moviegoers, and she could have climbed out from under her fellow just as easily as climbing over the others in the aisle. It looked to me she was okay with it despite her token protest to ease her conscience.
Near the end the detective has an
epiphany and sees himself as a “dirty cop” for
having demanded sexual favors in the past. He won't do it any more,
and there's nothing to be gained by his secretary outing him. He
gives her his badge as a mark of confidence. She takes it in her
hand waving it to halt a police lynch mob out for the monster. This
is not likely to end well for her or for her detective boss, she
having used her hand to bring down her home base out of some kind
of misguided Me, too
chauvinism.
Production Values
“” (2026) was written and directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal using a character created by Mary Shelly. It stars Jessie Buckley, Christian Bale and Peter Sarsgaard. Buckley gave a star performance, the others adequate.
MPA rated it R for strong/bloody violent content, sexual content/nudity and language. This film is artisan immersive providing a dark context following a plot with enough fresh storyline to keep us from getting jaded. A romance proper never gets off the ground. We've seen Frankenstein before but never like this. The dance music and moves were theatrical. It's technically set up to accommodate a sequel, but I wouldn't want to see one. Runtime is 2 hours 6 minutes.
Review Conclusion w/a Christian's Recommendation
This one could make a saintly sister pause before jumping on the Me, too bandwagon, as sometimes that can be counterproductive. It doesn't sermonize but lets viewers draw their own conclusions. Or not. It's way too controversial to bring a date to.
Movie Ratings
Action factor: Edge of your seat action. Suitability For Children: Not Suitable for Children of Any Age. Special effects: Well done special effects. Video Occasion: Good for Groups. Suspense: Keeps you on the edge of your seat. Overall movie rating: Four stars out of five.
Works Cited
Scripture is taken from the King James Version. Pub. 1611, rev. 1769. Software.
Feldman, Joshua Max. The Book of Jonah. Copyright © 2014 by Joshua Max Feldman. New York: Henry Holt and Company, LLC. First edition 2014. Print.
bibles.n7nz.org