Mexican director Guillermo del Toro has always been fascinated by monsters. This fascination has been evident in all of his films since he caused an international splash at Cannes in 1993 with 'Cronos'. His adaptation of 'Frankenstein’ was a labour of love that he had been working on for 25 years. "It was good that I didn't make the film earlier," he said at the press conference in Venice. "Now was the right time." Del Toro's ‘Frankenstein’ is spectacular, large-scale cinema, and despite its impressive effects, also an intense psychological drama. It is a film that must be seen on the big screen in order for its visual opulence to unfold.
Viktor Frankenstein (Oscar Isaac) suffers under the strict upbringing of his father, an army surgeon (Charles Dance), and his beloved mother dies giving birth to his younger brother. Viktor dreams of defeating death and creating an artificial human in his laboratory. Robots plus artificial intelligence avant la lettre, one might say. In the shady Austrian arms dealer Heinrich Harlander (Christoph Waltz) he finds a sponsor who is willing to build a huge laboratory and finance his experiments. Harlander's niece Elizabeth (Mia Goth) is engaged to Viktor's younger brother William (Felix Kammerer). After extensive preparations, Frankenstein's creation (Jacob Elordi) is brought to life on a stormy night with the help of a giant lightning rod.
Del Toro deliberately omitted the typical scar on the forehead, making the creature appear less monstrous and giving it an alabaster-like beauty. Viktor's relationship with his creature is one of master and servant. One could speak of colonial dominance, as was characteristic of the 19th century. While the first half of the film is told from Viktor's point of view, we experience the second half from the perspective of the nameless 'monster'. We sense his loneliness and his desire for human companionship, which is ultimately fulfilled in the person of Elizabeth. She, too, feels like an outsider in a world where there is no place for her. Viktor, whose advances she has brusquely rejected, becomes increasingly erratic in his behaviour. In del Toro's version, he is less a 'mad scientist' than a disappointed lover and frustrated creator who is losing control over his creature.
At the press conference, Guillermo del Toro explained his fascination with cinema monsters. "I first saw James Whale's 'Frankenstein' when I was seven years old. I grew up very Catholic, but I didn't understand the idea of saints. When I saw Boris Karloff as Frankenstein, I finally understood what a saint was". It was James Whale's two films, 'Frankenstein' (1931) and 'The Bride of Frankenstein' (1935), that the Catholic boy saw in Guadalajara and that stayed with him for the rest of his life. He cited John Milton's poetic epic "Paradise Lost" from 1667, a story of rebellion and the Fall of Man, as another influence."‘Better to reign in hell than serve in heaven". The Greek myth of Prometheus, who steals fire from the gods, may have been another source of inspiration.
Dwayne Johnson, known as “The Rock”, embodies a completely different kind of monster. After ending his career as a successful wrestler, he became a muscular Hollywood star. In ‘The Smashing Machine’, he plays Mark Kerr, a pioneer of MMA (Mixed Martial Arts), a full-contact combat sport in which, unlike in boxing, punching and kicking are also allowed. The MMA championships are therefore quite brutal and bloody. Director Benny Safdie uses the documentary film ‘The Smashing Machine: The Life and Times of Extreme Fighter Mark Kerr’ (John Hyams, USA 2002) as a source material to tell the biography of Mark Kerr.
We see Mark Kerr as he is celebrated during his fights and as he argues with his girlfriend at home. No matter what she does for him, he is never satisfied. When she makes him a smoothie with low-fat milk, he pours it away because he only drinks full-fat milk, and so on. At first, you wonder, do you really want to watch this, a film about men who beat their opponents bloody and kick them in the head while they're lying on the ground? But then the story takes an unexpected turn. Outside the ring, these tough men treat their opponents with friendship and affection. Kerr's rival Mark Coleman becomes his best friend and immediately sets off from Ohio to Arizona when he learns that the other one is in bad shape. Due to his constant use of painkillers, Kerr has become addicted to medication. To get back on his feet, he goes into rehab and makes a comeback at the Pride Championships in Tokyo.
Dwayne Johnson, who was made to resemble the real Mark Kerr with the help of facial prosthetics and a wig, impresses in his first serious role. At the premiere in Venice, he broke down in tears at the long applause. The New York director Benny Safdie was awarded the Prize for Best Director.