At this past Sunday’s Academy Awards ceremony, I was pleased that director Guillermo del Toro’s “Frankenstein” earned Oscars, as I wrote that it would, for Production Design, Costume Design, and Makeup and Hair. His movies are always wonderful visual adventures, and the awards were well-deserved. The superb film is streaming on Netflix. The director has promised a Blu-ray and DVD release sometime this year. If you haven’t seen del Toro’s version of “Nightmare Alley” from 2021, scenes for which were filmed in Buffalo, it is also worth watching. The movie is available on DVD and Blu-ray and through VOD and streaming.
After a very long awards season, the Oscars were a pleasant 3-hour and 40-minute escapade in celebrating movies, even if the show wasn’t groundbreaking or overly entertaining. I correctly chose 17 out of 24 winners, which gave me a good feeling considering the tight race between “Sinners” and “One Battle After Another,” as well as the surprise tie for best live action short film.
Everybody connected with the show did their jobs, except the sound engineers, because the sound at times was muddy. I did notice a lack of important movie stars in attendance in the audience or as presenters, but somehow, someway, the four male stars of “Heated Rivalry,” the global phenomenon Canadian streaming series about gay hockey players, were either at the ceremony or at various parties. Good for them. As Oprah Winfrey told French-Canadian actor Francois Arnaud, who plays the blueberry smoothie-loving hockey superstar Scott Hunter, after she invited him into her dressing suite when they were both appearing on some network morning show, “ride the wave.”
Speaking of making waves, Timothee Chalamet, who has provided more publicity for opera and ballet that any actor in history, was front and center in the theater and was a good sport when host Conan O’Brien made a mild joke about the fine arts contretemps involving the talented 30-year-old Chalamet, who has already been nominated for best actor three times. As for O’Brien, he was his usual hit-and-miss self. I watched the show’s first 14 minutes a second time and did enjoy the zany tribute to “Weapons,” with him wearing the Aunt Gladys character’s wild wig and all those children running amok. Regarding his monologue, which made me laugh out loud only twice, it ultimately wasn’t all that memorable.
Regarding “Frankenstein,” there’s a new lady on the block. After the success of the original 1931 “Frankenstein,” its director, James Whale, made a follow-up released in 1935 titled “Bride of Frankenstein.” The contemporary actress Maggie Gyllenhaal has been fascinated by the “bridal” story, as well as the original novel’s author, Mary Shelley, and her place in literary history. Women didn’t get published very easily in the early 19th century. Just ask the Bronte sisters.
The history of the writing of Shelley’s “Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus” is well-known. She and her friends were staying warm and cozy during a dark and stormy night while visiting Switzerland and were having fun thinking up ghost stories. She created what would eventually become “Frankenstein.”
Gyllenhaal’s new movie, which she directed and wrote, is “The Bride!” It’s a twist on Whale’s film and what a twist it is. You’ve never seen anything like it. It’s gonzo filmmaking on a level that belongs to David Lynch’s “Eraserhead,” Alejandro Jodorowsky’s “El Topo,” the giddy theatrical fun of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” and the groundbreaking, zany go-for-broke camaraderie of early John Waters, including his masterwork, “Pink Flamingos.”
Alright, here comes “The Bride!” In a colorful 1930s gangland Chicago, Frank (as in the Frankenstein monster) shows up and wouldn’t mind having a girlfriend. He visits a mad female scientist, who might be able to create a special friend for him. Ida is a woman who likes hanging around gangsters, but she dies. Before you can say what a cheesy-looking laboratory, Ida is reanimated, and she and Frank become special friends. Ida likes movies and is especially smitten with a musical star named Ronnie Reed. There’s a clever “Young Frankenstein” inside joke on the way, but I won’t tell you what it is.
Meanwhile, a touch of Bonnie and Clyde and a cop named Jake drift through the neighborhood. There is also an ethereal touch because Mary Shelley is occasionally telling us the story in black and white sequences. As the film progresses, a common sense approach to the Frankenstein legend is derailed, but this is not your normal reimagining. I’m not going any further with how it all plays out.
Gyllenhaal’s goal with this wild and woolly motion picture is to step up for women. Your goal is to understand that the entire film collapses if you think along normal storytelling lines. Think goofy. Think crazy. Think pogo stick. The wonderful cast is fun to watch. Jessie Buckley, who just won a best actress Oscar for “Hamnet” (talk about being careful in the woods), plays Ida and the ghost of Shelley. Christian Bale is Frank. Annette Bening is the scientist. Maggie Gyllenhaal’s brother Jake Gyllenhaal is movie star Reed. Her real-life husband Peter Sarsgaard, is the cop, and Penelope Cruz is his assistant. There’s also a crime boss named Lupino. (Get it?)
“The Bride!” is a bit deranged, all over the place creatively, and utterly whacky. It’s also very well-made from a production standpoint. I have to give Maggie Gyllenhaal credit for daring to be different. “The Bride!” has midnight movie written all over it. It belongs in the same sentence with those classic midnight features of decades ago: “Eraserhead,” “El Topo,” “Pink Flamingos,” and, of course, “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.” The film is fun to watch, but it is by no means for everyone. The cast is as sterling as you want an A-level cast to be. One key thing is to keep the picture’s secrets. Another important thing is not to criticize “The Bride!” if you haven’t seen it. Far too many people are doing that, which is unfortunate. Give the movie a chance, especially because it’s fun to experience and later talk about.