The Right to Choose (Death): LISA FRANKENSTEIN and SHE IS CONANN
In theaters this week:
Lisa Frankenstein
USA, 2024, d. Zelda Williams, 1h41m, **1/2
Lisa Swallows is a quiet high school girl who likes hanging out at an abandoned cemetery since witnessing her mother's brutal axe murder. Her new stepmom - a psych nurse - thinks she belongs in her ward, even though she seems well-adjusted, getting along fine with her popular, athletic stepsister. After a party goes awry (it hints at the dangers of date rape, while never feeling too dangerous), Lisa stumbles home during an electrical storm, past a tombstone adorned with the bust of a hot young man which she frequently visits and leaves tokens of affection. The 19th century, aesthetically Victorian, corpse is later revived by lightning and... somehow... knows how to find her house. Lisa keeps the lovelorn zombie in her closet and uses him as a silent soundboard for dating advice and (reluctantly, at first) how to dress for gothic success.
Most of the negative reviews for Lisa Frankenstein seem to think that the film's aversion to gore in order to stay PG-13 for its target audience is the problem clashing with its morbid sensibilities. In reality, it has the humor and sensibility that it needs (for its target audience) but has a mess of a script that doesn't know how to create setups and payoffs. Lisa does not seem practically mute like everyone makes her out to be, her stepmom is a monster for no reason, and when "The Monster" starts killing people it doesn't feel motivated by what the character wants (jealousy was right there). It's a little disappointing from the writer of Jennifer's Body, but there is a lot of bright, up-and-coming talent in front of and behind the camera. Director Zelda Williams, daughter of Robin, is already established as an actress and a cinephile, and this is her first feature after a number of shorts and music videos.
She is Conann
France, 2023, d. Bertrand Mandico, 1h45m, ***1/2
It would be a fool's errand to summarize the plot of a movie by a director who wrote an "Incoherence Manifesto". But in broad strokes, She is Conann involves a trip down memory lane for an aging Conann, reliving the acts that made her a famous "barbarian", accompanied by her dog-faced companion/cameraman Rainer. Several actresses portray Conann at different stages of her life, each showing up in turn to kill her younger self and take over the role. It does not bear much resemblance to the Robert E. Howard Conan stories.
French director Bertrand Mandico's films are very much love-them or hate-them, and more than anything they are about aesthetics. High fashion is mixed with punk and cinematic influences from the experimental (Maya Deren) to the popular (Blade Runner) to the high art (The Cook, The Thief, His Wife & Her Lover). Like Peter Greenaway's films, not a corner of the frame is ever wasted, and texture is palpable, which Mandico usually achieves by having fake snow or glitter blown around his meticulously crafted sets. This one is mostly in black-and-white, until Conann kills and there are moments of color, as if the memories are more vivid.
Mandico's previous film After Blue frustrated me, even though I was on board for style over substance, its steady pitch of near-incoherence became tedious over two hours. But She is Conann is episodic in structure, and consistently finds drastically new worlds to throw at you. For instance, after about 45 minutes of the expected swords-and-sandals milieu, we time jump to "The Bronx" of "The 90s", looking like the set of The Lost Boys, and Conann is now a "stuntwoman" giving Grace Jones, driving a muscle car around fire barrel-lined streets.
If I had to guess what it all means, I'd say that mayyyybe it's about an artist's constant & painful urge to reinvent themselves? But it could all be meaningless, and it wouldn't be any less oddly compelling. You really just have to decide if you're interested in the aesthetic, and if you're not, then it's not going to be for you.
A highlight is the always-fascinating actress Elina Löwensohn (Nadja) as the dog Rainer. Hidden behind a prosthetic dog face should have been a limitation, but she puts on a master class of body language; she could be one of our great motion capture actors.
What I'm Watching: February TV
Mr. and Mrs. Smith
Amazon Prime
A new Donald Glover series is irresistible no matter the content, but it turns out this is a mission-of-the-week spy comedy-drama? Bearing little resemblance to its namesake Brangelina movie, Donald Glover and Maya Erskine are secret agents for a shadowy organization who have to pretend to be married (hijinks ensue!). What's refreshing is that after years of streaming TV series feeling like they have to have a novelistic season-long story arc, this show (like Poker Face recently) is reviving the story-of-the-week format. We need more like this, to remind everyone that the episodic format is not inferior to what "prestige TV" has become. (And like Poker Face, this show also uses its format to score amazing guest stars.)
Expats
Amazon Prime
Nicole Kidman stars in this limited series based on a novel set against the intriguing backdrop of recent protests in Hong Kong. Honestly, don't know much about this one yet. But anything from writer/director Lulu Wang (The Farewell) is a must-see.