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Gods And Monsters

1998, Movie, R, 105 mins

Gods And Monsters: Review

GODS AND MONSTERS
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An elegiac meditation on the last days of director James Whale (FRANKENSTEIN, THE INVISIBLE MAN, BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN and THE OLD DARK HOUSE), found dead in 1957 in his own Hollywood swimming pool under mysterious circumstances, this gentle rumination on what makes life worth living is driven by two exceptional performances. Handsome, mad-at-the-world ex-Marine Clay Boone (Brendan Fraser) is hired to do yard work for the eccentric, 61-year-old English expatriate Whale (Ian McKellen), who has outlived his career, his social set, many of his intimates and, most importantly, his era. The elegant, soignée film folk of his glory days have been supplanted by crass parvenus, horror movies have degenerated into I Was a Teenage... tripe, and Whale's arch, European-infected sensibilities -- once the height of sophistication -- seem mannered and slightly silly. And on top of all that, he's drowning in a flood of memories unleashed by a recent stroke: His mind racing, he can't sleep or concentrate; even his lifelong passion for painting is compromised. That doesn't stop him from asking the well-developed Clay to model, and the two develop a contentious friendship: Clay is intrigued by the older man and his glamorous past in the movie industry, put off by the fact that Whale is openly homosexual but flattered that someone so cultured sees him as interesting and special. Whale's interest in Clay goes beyond the obvious and has a faintly sinister edge: He's clearly manipulating the younger man, but it's not entirely apparent what the "Father of Frankenstein" (the title of the novel from which this movie is adapted) has in mind for his creation. Witty and beautifully textured, director Bill Condon's poignant fantasy is equally at home re-creating the making of Bride and spinning dream sequences in the style of Universal horror pictures, all rich shadows and pale fog. leave a comment --Maitland McDonagh
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