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 Before I get into this, I want to say, don't read this OP and just see the movie. I'm gonna get into some spoilers that are clear from the trailers and then some deeper spoilers but really, go in with as little knowledge as possible and be delighted by as much as this movie as possible because it's quite simply wonderful. If that doesn't convince you or you've already seen it, read on.... I saw Colossal at Sundance this year and in many ways it's a pretty typical indie comedy. It tells the story of a girl named Gloria who just can't get her life together. Newly out of her pretty nice writing job, she's living in the big city being supported by her boyfriend and spending her nights drinking with her friends. She then drunkenly wanders back home just to pass out and repeat the process upon waking. This gets her dumped and kicked out of her boyfriend's apartment until she can get her poo poo together. She can't afford to live in the big city, so she's forced to move back to her small hometown to a depressingly empty house her family still owns but no one lives in anymore. There she reconnects with a nice childhood friend named Oscar who seems to like her, owns a bar and gives her a job. Rather than getting her life back together she spends her nights drinking with Oscar and his friends at the bar after closing and stumbling home early in the morning. This all so far is basically a fairly typical setup to a pretty typical Judd Apatow-esque "adult learns to grow up" movie until Gloria finds that when she stumbles home in the morning through a particular playground, a giant monster appears in South Korea mimicking her movements and causing havoc. So yeah, that kind of changes things. What director Nacho Vigalondo has made here is a very funny and unique movie that deals very well with some relatable and serious issued. The movie deals with what you'd expect it to with messages about personal responsibility and owning up to your actions. However, rather unexpectedly, those issues get resolved fairly quickly and slowly the movie becomes one about abuse as it becomes clear that Oscar is not really a very nice guy. He happens to appear as a giant robot in South Korea and is not afraid to use this to get what he wants This creates a big shift in the tone of what is a pretty light film but it makes it work. It's a movie that knocks down the myth of the nice guy while also showing how women in a wacky Apatow-esque situation can be taken advantage of and kept in a place of helplessness with no control over their lives. As I was originally watching the movie I was taken aback by this shift of focus but really this is a far better place for it to go and take advantage of it's Kaiju backdrop. Of course this type of story couldn't really be told without some really good performances and Hathaway brings it, always keeping the movie grounded and Sudeikis plays his arguably trickier role so well that it manages to not give away certain things too soon. This movie is very silly but it's also very serious and that kind of tonal dissonance would destroy a lesser film but this film somehow manages to pull it off kind of effortlessly making all the very different parts feel like they belong together. So far this is my best movie of the year, so if you get a chance just see it god damnit. Here's a trailer that you probably shouldn't watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RT2khohvjLE
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Apr 18, 2017 23:49
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| # ¿ Apr 29, 2024 11:22 |
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One thing I really like in the movie is that the big twist is that Oscar is a insecure, petty dick and has always been. It's such a rarely tapped varient of the more typical "character is secretly the villain". I mean it seems basic and slight but the movie does treat it like a twist, building up to it through a gradually revealed flashback. It's also not really noticeable but it does what a good twist does where it makes you recontextualize tons of scenes in the movie. Pretty much everything Oscar does is in service of controlling Gloria and making her dependent on him. The twist also full nature of who he is also explains his really casual attitude towards what's going on. Jenny Angel posted:The moment you mention in your spoiler is definitely intended to be funny, it's just that the movie does an incredible job of transitioning from slapstick hijinks to pitch-black discomfort comedy as it goes on. What especially rules is that it leans pretty heavily on visual gags delivered through fairly long, fairly static takes in both modes, making the transition seamless in a way where it can often take a few moments to realize exactly what kind of laughter is going on In relation to what I said above, so many scenes manage to work in two ways without really giving a hint the other way is present. As the movie goes on some scenes go by in a very unusual way but most of the movie just seems to be working on the expected level. Also I really need to see Vigolando's other work. I kind of dismissed Timecrimes because that is a name that makes it sound like a direct to video sequel to Timecop made 20 years too late, but now I'm interested.
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Apr 19, 2017 01:05
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Rex Reed continuing to get paid to write reviews for movies he clearly did not actually watch. Living the dream. Also I did not realize that was Dan Stevens as the boyfriend.
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Apr 23, 2017 06:07
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well part of the whole thing for Oscar is his life sucks and he feels weak and powerless. one of the reasons he embraces him being a robot so really is because he finally is important and had power (which is also why he gets so annoyed when Gloria won't let him participate in the apology). by the end here's just reveling in his power, figuring that if he can't control a girl he thinks is better than himself, he might as well terrorize a city. also I think the hair thing was just about giving Gloria ticks that would be reconizble when she was a monster. I'm not sure if she does the hair thing as the monster but it just generally establishes her as being the type to do that sort of thing which is emphasized more with the head scratching thing
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Apr 23, 2017 07:17
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My original better name for this thread was Hathawayzilla vs Mecha Sudeikas but that felt far too spoilery, especially considering what the trailers choose to hold back
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Apr 24, 2017 02:36
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In general, most of his "nice" behavior, when looked back on is all about control. He's her boss, he is decorating her house, determining what she needs and gets angry whenever she shows will that is counter to what he wants. The only control he ever lets her feel like she has is about the abandoned half of the bar but even then he never goes forward with what he said he'd do and makes her feel like it's her fault. In general I like the movie's deconstruction of the nice guy and the cool chick. Both are things that seem fine and movies love but in this they are shown as being nothing more than ideas that conform with male ideas of entitlement. Oscar is the nice guy but it's all really a means of control and is used to pressure Gloria into feeling like she's always in debt. Meanwhile Gloria is the cool chick that can keep up with the guys but all it really does is hold her back in standing up for herself and has her brush of things that are a big deal because she doesn't want to be a bitch or anything. I also like that by the end, even the well meaning boyfriend is revealed to sort of be a better off, more together Oscar
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Apr 24, 2017 21:20
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As vague as you're trying to be, you should probably spoiler tag some of that
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May 4, 2017 18:29
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I didn't take her reaction at the end to mean they she's still the same, just that it's never easy to stay on track and even after she's overcome this major challenge, she still has the day to day challenge of not falling back on old habits whick would be all to easy. I mean after something like she just went through, anyone could use a drink but she knows it isn't that simple for her.
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May 7, 2017 17:30
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This movie is very much about the things that post says it's about and it's not even subtle about it. Like it's a film that uses Kaiju to explore self destructive behavior and the power dynamics in abusive relationships. . At the screening I went to the director showed up at the end and was not shy in confirming that stuff was intended.
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May 7, 2017 17:37
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| # ¿ Apr 29, 2024 11:22 |
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Her life isn't in total shambles, it's just heading there. She's set up as this type of small town success story where she moves to the big city, got a big writing job and moved in with a handsome boyfriend in a fancy apartment and at the beginning she just loses all of that and is forced back to a home town she doesn't really like to live in a house she not only has no fondness for but has all but been abandoned. Like just because she isn't at rock bottom doesn't mean she isn't headed there and in general a character doesn't need to hit rock bottom for them to need to turn their life around. In regards to the last part it's not that her Boyfriend is outright abusive, it's more that he still likes to be in a position of control in the relationship and gets very unnerved when he loses that control. He wanted Gloria to turn her life around but just to the extent that she isn't embarrassing, not to the degree where she doesn't need him and he can't feel superior to her
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May 7, 2017 20:27
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