Poor Things

Emma Stone’s Oscar performance as Bella in Poor Things finally gets a disk release. I anxiously awaited seeing this Yorgos Lanthimos film, adapted from the  Alasdair Gray novel. I’m now glad I waited until it was available free from the library. I only made it through 50 minutes of the film. I found the imagery and staging pretentious. The story bored me. It felt contrived and unoriginal. I genuinely tried hanging in there, but near the hour mark, Bella was still with Duncan with no end in sight. I realize she goes on to other adventures (I read the synopsis), I just couldn’t handle anymore. Perhaps that’s one drawback to watching film at home. You can get up and turn it off. In the theater, you will, or at least I will sit through nearly everything. I found the black and white beginning too obvious, the steampunk-ish elements about 20 years too late. Pulling things from The Wizard of Oz and Frankenstein, the film felt like it was trying too hard to be hip and edgy. Didn’t feel natural or organic to me. 2 out of 5. Next.

Poor Things currently streams on Hulu and is available on disk from your local public library.