FRANKENSTEIN

Frankenstein (2025) directed by Guillermo del Toro. This is a visually stunning film with some wonderful special effects. There are some derivations from the novel, but the core story and themes still shine through. Oscar Isaacs does well as Victor Frankenstein, having played this role once before in Ex Machina. Jacob Elordi brings a tenderness to the Creature that transforms into grief and loss and rage as the film progresses. Knowledge kills!

 
Streaming on Netflix.

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The way that a pack of wolves is portrayed in the film is my main complaint. It play into the clichés and tropes of wolves that have been put forth throughout most of European history. The wolves here are bloodthirsty and violent. They display a projection of human violence onto them that has been discredited by modern science. It's a shame that del Toro falls into the easy trap of the mythic marauding predatory wolf.

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It's also interesting that del Toro shifts any violence perpetrated by the Creature to Victor Frankenstein. The blood is literally on Victor's hands, as well as figuratively since he wears red leather gloves throughout the film.

BUGONIA

Bugonia (2025) directed by Yorgos Lanthimos. What the hell, Yorgos? This film is dumb and unnecessarily cruel. There is a low-grade tension that churns beneath the surface of the entire film, similar to Uncut Gems, which makes it an unpleasant experience. I love most of the Lanthimos oeuvre, but I was glad when this was over. I think part of the problem is that the "satire" is too close to our current cultural situation to really work as satire. The black humor is all black and no humor, almost nihilistic. No thank you.

Viewed at Tacoma's Grand Cinema.

NOVEMBER

"Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear of every funeral I meet; and especially whenever my hypos get such an upper hand of me, that it requires a strong moral principle to prevent me from deliberately stepping into the street, and methodically knocking people's hats off—then, I account it high time to get to sea as soon as I can. This is my substitute for pistol and ball."
—from "Loomings" (chapter I) of Moby-Dick by Herman Melville.

“November always seemed to me the Norway of the year”
—Emily Dickinson.