“There is a world to enjoy, explore, circumnavigate…It is the goal of all to process & grow” 

✭✭✭✭✭ (5 stars out of 5) – Poor Things (2024)

This film is literally the embodiment of what would happen if you were to mesh both Tim Burton’s “Alice in Wonderland (2009)” & the classic “Frankenstein (1931) film.

Poor Things follows our main protagonist, Bella Baxter (Emma Stone) ,who is a young woman resurrected from a unhinged scientist (William Dafoe) where she sets herself off to investigate the components of life & to see what purpose does she serve in her everyday life. Having a child-like brain & starting back to square one with her mental capacity, Bella then runs away with a rich & egotistical man who promises her all good things (Mark Ruffalo). However, she then quickly learns that all of life is not all sunshine & rainbows but a jumble of trials of tribulations as she undergoes a series of events that ultimately test’s her ability to make choices that could either positively or negatively affect her with her future.

I know that the year 2024 has just started, but no words can describe how quickly this film became one of my favorite releases of this year thus far!!! The concept + storyline was such an astonishing outcome, along with the cinematography that Yorgos Lanthimos directed (the different camera angles & lenses). This film touches upon an important theme of being able to positively-self perceive yourself in a world filled with people who are so wrapped around societal constraints. It lets the viewers know that it is acceptable for one to go out of line when following societal norms & being able to create their own experiences to THEIR life story.

In addition, I feel that they did an amazing job of how they portrayed Bella Baxter in the film with her long “Rapunzel” jet-black hair & her Gothic Victorian dresses. Her physical appearance is what you would see if you were to picture a character from a Tim Burton film or Edgar Allan Poe poem. To conclude, what I felt like was the cherry to top off this film was the original soundtrack for me. I feel like the score had such a cryptic & experimental feeling to it which added to the element of surrealism of the film. Please be mindful of the mature content that is within the entire film, this is not a film or children whatsoever so viewer discretion is HIGHLY advised.