Best Pictures #106: The 2023 (96th) Academy Awards: My Choice

by A.J.

Best Pictures #106: The 2023 (96th) Academy Awards

The 96th Academy Awards ceremony for films released in 2023 was held on March 10th, 2024. The ceremony was still over 3 hours but still ended early because it started an hour earlier than previous years. A minor controversy was avoided when a last minute decision to exclude Messi the dog, who played Snoop in Anatomy of a Fall, was reversed and cameras showed the much loved dog in the audience. A rather unexpected milestone was reached when Cillian Murphy, nominated for Oppenheimer, became the first Irishman to win the Best Actor Oscar.

One of the biggest movies of the year ended up being the most awarded film the night with Oppenheimer winning 7 of its 13 nominations, the most wins and nominations of any film. The odd Poor Things won 4 of its 11 nominations, including the most shocking upset of the night when Emma Stone won her second Best Actress Oscar over the expected winner, Lily Gladstone for Killers of the Flower Moon. Martin Scorsese's epic, and excellent, based on true events crime drama did not win any of its 10 nominations, the same fate as Scorsese's last film with 10 nominations, The Irishman. Ryan Gosling's seriocomic performance of the nominated original song "I'm Just Ken" was the highlight ceremony. He began singing in the audience of the shoulder of co-star Margot Robbie, moved to the stage, danced with the chorus on stage, quickly adjusted the mic stand without missing a beat, and then got some of the stars near the stage to sing along. That song did not win, but the other nominated song from Barbie, "What Was I Made For?" did win, giving 22 year old Billie Eilish her second Original Song Oscar and giving Barbie its only win. The rest of the night went as expected, more or less, even with Al Pacino skipping naming all of the Best Picture nominees and then semi teasing out naming the winner: "My eyes see...Oppenheimer."

Overall the Academy's Best Picture nominees were a strong and diverse class. They included: two foreign language films, two films directed by women, four films focused on female main characters, three films that take a hard look at history, biopics, period pieces, satires, indie films, comedies, dramas, and two films about grumpy intellectuals. Some of the best reviewed movies of 2023 were included in the Academy's list of 10 nominees, including my choice for the best film of 2023.

My Pick for Best Picture of 2023: Oppenheimer

It's not often that my personal choice for the best movie of the year is a major box office hit and then not only nominated for Best Picture but becomes frontrunner and eventual winner. Of course, I'm glad when that does happen. So much has been said about Oppenheimer and it has received so much praise that it feels gratuitous to say anymore. However, it is very exciting when a movie comes along that has so much to say, so much to think about, and is done so well that you just want to keep talking about it. 

There is always the risk of sounding pretentious and even foolish—don’t the two go hand in hand?—when describing films as art, but they certainly are, even if they are not "art films." This movie should be a history lesson or another by the numbers biopic, but in the hands of Christopher Nolan, who is proving himself to be a master filmmaker, it is a rare blend of entertainment and art. No one knows for sure how a movie will be remembered, whether it wins Best Picture or not, but my theory is Oppenheimer will be a movie that people continue to revisit. After all, we do live in the atomic age of Oppenheimer.

My Top 10 Movies of 2023

by A.J. 

For me, the Academy Awards marks the end of the movie year. It took me a while to see everything in my watchlist, but there's just enough time left to present my list of the best movies of 2023.

My Top 10 Movies of 2023

1. Oppenheimer

It should be a history lesson or another by the numbers biopic, but in the hands of Christopher Nolan, who is proving himself to be a master filmmaker, this is a rare blend of entertainment and art and is the best movie of 2023. 

2. Killers of the Flower Moon

Martin Scorsese made one of the best movies of [insert whatever year] to the surprise of no one. The skill at work once again proves he is a master and his depiction of the terrible crimes against the Osage makes for a difficult but powerful film. 

3. Barbie

The Barbie movie didn't have to be sharp satire about gender issues with emotional character arc for Barbie and Ken, but is and it also tremendous fun and a genuinely great movie. 

4. Past Lives

A gentle and moving story about relationships and more importantly connections. 

5. American Fiction

A very smart comedy and fun satire grounded by a relatable family story. 

6. Bottoms

Absurd. Ridiculous. Hilarious. This manages to be both a parody of high school/teen movies but also a good high school teen movie. The leads have great chemistry and are very good (maybe even too good) at playing teenagers.

7. The Taste of Things

From France. This is a gentle and lovely film about the joy of cooking, the joy of friends, the joy of lovers, the joy of life.

8. Godzilla Minus One

Maybe the best Godzilla movie ever? The human characters are great and Godzilla is scary, probably the scariest he's ever been.

9. You Hurt My Feelings

Nicole Holofcener's great comedy about an author who accidentally finds out what her husband thinks of her latest book. The characters and their problems feel realistic even though they come across as silly too. 

10. Mission: Impossible-Dead Reckoning Part One

The action is great, of course, especially the climax on a runaway train and of the very high quality we've come to expect from Tom Cruise and these movies. 

Best Pictures #105: 2023 (96th) Academy Awards Best Picture Nominee: Oppenheimer

by A.J.

Best Pictures #105: 2023 (96th) Academy Awards Best Picture Nominee

Oppenheimer

“Who would want to justify their whole life?”

A drama about the life of a scientist that is one of the biggest box office hits of the year. One of the greatest accomplishments in science that is also one of its worst. A story that is full of wonder and excitement and also dread and doom. A story about the past that feels like it is about today. A work of commerce that is also art. These things seem paradoxical, but as J. Robert Oppenheimer explains to his lone student about the new science of quantum physics, “It’s paradoxical, and yet, it works.” This is also true of Oppenheimer, Christopher Nolan’s 3 hour epic biopic of the “father of the atomic bomb,” which is indeed a heavy drama but also very entertaining. From start to finish it is a completely engrossing film that leaves a lasting impression on its audience. Nolan has made excellent films before (Memento (2000), The Dark Knight (2008), Inception (2010), Interstellar (2014) Dunkirk (2017)), but Oppenheimer feels like a crowning achievement; it is easily the best movie of 2023.

This epic historical film features one of the most impressive ensemble casts in recent memory, and yet, at the center is a brilliant performance by Cillian Murphy as Oppenheimer. Murphy, a longtime favorite of Nolan, finally gets a starring role in one of the director’s films, and not only that but one upon which the entire film depends. He captures the unlikely charisma of Oppenheimer–or “Oppy” as he affectionately called–and complexities and conflict that he tried to keep hidden. Oppenheimer was an unlikely choice to head up the Manhattan Project, especially given his left wing tendencies (an intellectual interest in communist ideas but not politics, and associations, including romances, with known or former communists), but the man in charge of the secret government nuclear bomb project, General Groves (Matt Damon), knows that “Oppy” is the right man for the job. 

Damon seems like he should be the antagonist; he is a pragmatist concerned with getting the project done and Oppenheimer is the creative idealist, but this actually makes them allies. Damon, who looks quite natural in a general’s uniform, also serves as the film’s sort of comic relief, or at least as a tension breaker. He is like the principal to Oppenheimer’s cool teacher, actually giving him a lot of leeway while keeping the higher ups off his back. Likewise, Emily Blunt as Oppenheimer’s wife, Kitty, is also a pragmatist which also makes her a good partner for him, though they clash just like Groves and Oppenheimer clash. She too is a scientist, a biologist and botanist, but is relegated to the role of wife and mother. “Oppy” is most alive when doing theory work, managing Los Alamos, or talking about science and theory. This is fine for friends and fellow scientists but perhaps it explains why his relationships with his wife and on-again-off-again girlfriend turned mistress, Jean Tatlock (Florence Pugh), feel very important but not very intimate and is the cause of the discord in each relationship. Both Blunt and Pugh give great performances as strong minded women who find happiness and strife with Oppenheimer.

Oppenheimer’s true antagonist is admiral turned bureaucrat Lewis Strauss—pronounced “straws”—who Oppenheimer thinks so little of that he doesn’t even register as a rival. Robert Downey Jr., an immensely talented actor, gives his best and most complex performance in years. Strauss brings Oppenheimer to Princeton, where Einstein already works, seemingly to add to his collection of famous scientists. In interviews, Downey Jr compared his character to Salieri, the composer desperate for acknowledgment and so jealous of Mozart that plotted to kill him in Amadeus. He does a wonderful job playing a modern Salieri, a petty and frail ego, and his Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor is most deserved. 

Strauss’s scenes, set in the 1950’s and shot in black and white, deal with his senate confirmation hearings for Commerce secretary in Eisenhower’s cabinet, but his questionable past treatment of Oppenheimer becomes the focus of the hearings. These scenes are intercut with a different timeline, shot in color, of Oppenheimer technically not on trial but in a hostile hearing to restore his government security clearance, though it is clear to all that the verdict is a foregone conclusion. He reads his life into the record and we see story of his early life and work at Los Alamos in flashbacks. Jumping from timeline to timeline sustains a steady momentum for each story and gives us a fuller understanding of events and the state of mind of the characters. It is also one of the things that keeps Oppenheimer from being a just straightforward biopic.

The supporting cast is a treasure trove of familiar names and faces including: Josh Harnett, Kenneth Branagh, Jason Clarke, David Krumholtz, Rami Malek, Alden Ehrenreich, and the list goes on and on. No matter how big or small the role, each cast member gives a great performance. Nolan and casting director John Papsidera wisely chose performers with distinctive and memorable faces, so even if you don’t remember every minor character’s name you still don’t lose track of them. 

The score by Ludwig Göransson is ever present but not intrusive. It is dramatic and abstract as needed and enhances the emotions and situations on film instead of cuing the audience on how to feel. The cinematography by Hoyte Van Hoytema is impressive not just because it utilizes the IMAX format to capture the vistas of New Mexico and the stunning splendor and horror of the clouds of fire of the first nuclear test, but also because of how it captures the actors. IMAX cameras lose focus easily, but Nolan and Van Hoytema turned this into an advantage by making great use of close ups–and performers like Murphy, Downey Jr, and Blunt know how make the most of a close up without overacting.  

At times Oppenheimer feels like a heist movie: a couple of characters have an impossible task to achieve in little time and must assemble a team and work out a practical plan. This is where the excitement comes in as Oppenheimer recruits scientists, many of whom are famous in their own right and have theories, equations, and labs named after them. They are in a race to beat the Nazis, who have a two year head start. They are also driven by the thrill of discovery and doing something that’s never been done before. Yet, over every moment looms the weight of the very real and terrible death and destruction of the atomic bomb. There are no scenes of carnage, no real life documentary footage or photos of the effects of the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but Oppenheimer, and the audience, fully understand the horror of what has happened. “I have blood on my hands,” he says to an unmoved President Truman and his concerns about the consequences of the atomic age fall of deaf ears.

Nolan focuses the last hour of the movie on what is behind Oppenheimer’s haunted face. His masterful use of filmmaking leaves the audience haunted too. Nolan’s screenplay is based on the biography by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin titled American Prometheus and that is a perfect title for the story of J. Robert Oppenheimer. Niels Bohr (Kenneth Branagh), the Danish physicist who proved Einstein wrong about quantum theory tells Oppenheimer, “You are an American Prometheus. A man who gave them the power to destroy themselves.”

Best Pictures #104: 2023 (96th) Academy Awards Best Picture Nominee: Barbie

by A.J. 

Best Pictures #104: 2023 (96th) Academy Awards Best Picture Nominee

Barbie

“You guys ever think about dying?”

Is there a more unlikely subject for a unique and artistic movie with wide commercial appeal than the most famous doll in the world, Barbie? I wonder if Warner Bros. and Mattel executives knew what kind of movie they were getting when they hired Greta Gerwig to direct the Barbie movie, but we should all be so thankful that they did. A big budget movie with this high of a profile typically ends up being a film by committee, fiercely overseen by executives protective of the product or brand no matter who the writer or director is. That may have been true with Barbie as well, but it still feels like Gerwig got one by the suits. Her Barbie movie is funny, dramatic, subversive, strange, satisfying, ridiculous, timely, socio-political, and wonderfully entertaining all at once. This is one of the most surprising and best movies of 2023.

Margot Robbie stars as Barbie–could it have been anyone else?–or to be more specific, she plays Stereotypical Barbie, who lives in her dream house in Barbieland, with all of the other Barbies who each have their own dream house, having the perfect day every day and every night is girls’ night. There are also the Kens, who are, you know, there. The narrator, voiced by Helen Merrin–could it have been anyone else?–tells us that Ken (Ryan Gosling), whose job is “beach,” not lifeguard or surfer, only has a great day if Barbie looks at him.

Her perfect days and nights come to a halt when she begins having thoughts of death, finds cellulite on her perfect form, and her feet change shape from perfectly designed for high heels to flat. Knowledgeable and eccentric Weird Barbie (Kate McKinnon), who got that way from being played with too hard, tells Barbie that she must venture to the real world, find the girl that is playing with her, and set things right. The Barbies believe that they have solved all of the real world’s problems regarding sexism and gender equality, so Barbie is in for quite a shock when she journeys to the real world.  

It’s no shock that the early Babieland sequence is the most fun part of the movie. Seeing a large scale version of the dreamhouse, all the different Barbies and Kens, the plastic aesthetic of everything, even the ocean waves, is a real treat for the eyes. It is also no surprise that the equally eye-catching production design and costumes have each received Oscar nominations. Both are not only vibrant and fun, but they also help define the characters. 

Margot Robbie is excellent as Barbie, not just because she looks the part but because she deftly handles the broad comedy and real emotions that Barbie didn’t even know she could experience. She fits comfortably into the flamboyant and fantastical aesthetic of Barbieland and is great as a fish out of water in the “state of Los Angeles.” When she stiffly flops over in despair we enjoy a small laugh but she has all of our sympathy. There are many things that go right in Barbie, but Margot Robbie is the keystone. 

Like Robbie, Gosling is broad but just what the movie needs. His Ken is an over excited puppy, eager for Barbie’s attention and eager to be taken seriously and seen as cool. He tags along on Barbie’s trip to the real world, learns about patriarchy, and turns Barbieland into Kendom. The sweetness of Gosling’s performance, as much as Gerwig and co-writer Noah Baumbach’s screenplay, keep the audience from ever feeling like Ken becomes a villain. 

Perhaps the concessions that Gerwig made to Mattel were to not dig too hard at the corporation. Will Ferrell gives a hilarious performance as the Mattel CEO, maybe the most benevolent CEO ever on film. Mattel itself is portrayed as its own version of Barbieland, unreal and off kilter. Still, the screenplay gets a lot of laughs at the less successful versions of Barbie that crashed and burned like Midge the pregnant Barbie (played by director Emerald Fennell in a cameo) and perpetually overlooked Allan played wonderfully by Michael Cera. 

It is at Mattel that Barbie meets Gloria (America Ferrera), an aspiring Barbie designer, who goes with Barbie to set things right in Barbieland. Ferrera, who has received an Oscar nomination for her performance, becomes a sort of conduit for bridging the emotions of the real world and Babieland. Thankfully, the movie has no problem moving from being a live action cartoon into more dramatic, emotional moments, and even dealing with social and gender issues because of the great cast and the great skill of director Greta Gerwig. If her previous films, the Oscar nominated Lady Bird (2017) and Little Women (2019), haven’t already established Gerwig as a serious filmmaker and auteur then Barbie is one more major point in her favor.

This movie is fun and playful but also meaningful. It earns every laugh, every tear, every comment on the patriarchy and society. Barbie is certainly offbeat but there are things in it for every audience member to enjoy; many, many have already. This turned into the biggest movie of the summer, earned much critical acclaim, and now is nominated for 8 Academy Awards including Best Picture. It is rare these days for a big budget studio movie to feel so singularly ambitious and inventive and be so incredibly pleasing and well done, but Barbie is that movie. After all, Barbie can be anything. 

Best Pictures #103: 2023 (96th) Academy Awards Best Picture Nominee: Killers of the Flower Moon

by A.J.

Best Pictures #103: 2023 (96th) Academy Awards Best Picture Nominee

Killers of the Flower Moon

"Can you find the wolves in this picture?"

David Grann’s captivating nonfiction book, The Killers of the Flower Moon, about the series of murders of members of the Osage nation in Oklahoma in the 1920’s unfolds like a mystery. Director and co-writer Martin Scorsese’s epic length adaptation makes clear who the killers are right from the start. They are not masterminds—criminals in Scorsese movies rarely are—but they are white in reservation country and powerful, or close to power, and corrupt. When oil is discovered on the Osage land, its people become wealthy and make good lives for themselves. The catch is that many Osage are declared legally “incompetent” and are restricted access to their own money without a (white) guardian. Wolves in sheep's clothing circle and then the murders begin.

Leonardo DiCaprio plays Ernest Burkhart, a World War I veteran with a stomach injury who returns to Oklahoma looking for as little work as possible. His uncle, William Hale (Robert De Niro), a wealthy and powerful cattle baron, who doesn’t mind if you call him “King'', sets him up with a job as a chauffeur, one of many who drive wealthy Osage clients. Ernest’s regular customer is Mollie (Lily Gladstone), a full blood Osage, who he falls for and eventually wins over. They marry, meaning that Mollie’s oil “headrights” will go to Ernest if she dies. If her sisters and mother die before her, their oil rights will go to Mollie then to Ernest. Uncle “King'' Hale is pleased with this.

Ernest is a different kind of role for DiCaprio, who turns in one of his best performances. Ernest has his own kind of charm and insists to his uncle that he’s not thick, but he is a dimwit. His love for Mollie seems genuine but he does not see that Hale pushed him to pursue and marry Mollie. He also has no problem following his uncle’s order to kill off certain Osage tribe members, even Mollie’s sister. His inner toil and conflict about what is happening arrives far later than they should have, in part because he is dim and in part because he doesn’t want to admit it to himself, but it makes for some strong and powerful scenes from DiCaprio. 

We spend less time with Mollie than Ernest or Hale, but she is the sympathetic center of the movie. In her early scenes she is quiet and reserved but with an easy to detect liveliness underneath. In the scenes where she must ask her banker, a proud member of the KKK, for her own money she conveys a quiet disdain and defiant dignity. She is diabetic and Hale has arranged for her to receive special insulin shots, with an extra ingredient he’s told Ernest to add. 

Why did the Osage not see that Hale was a villain? Many scenes of Killers of the Flower Moon reminded me of Henry Hill’s words in Scorsese’s Goodfellas, “...nobody ever tells you that they're going to kill you, doesn't happen that way... your murderers come with smiles, they come as your friends, the people who've cared for you all of your life.” William “King” Hale spoke Osage, knew and respected their customs, went out of his way to become involved in their lives, and even contributed $1000 to the Osage fund to investigate the killings. De Niro, giving one of his best performances in a very impressive career, is excellent as a wolf in sheep’s clothing; a gentle, avuncular personality who expressed nothing but concern and respect for his Osage neighbors while conspiring with lowlife scum to kill them. The setting and clothes are different but he is still just a greedy gangster. 

There is no way around Killers of the Flower Moon’s intimidating runtime of 3 ½ hours—actually 3 hrs 26 min but that may as well be 3 ½ hours—but it earns its epic length and uses it wisely. The murders did not happen in a spree but spread over years and we see only a handful of them. Life continues, happily even, and then one night someone is shot, then one day a woman succumbs to the “wasting sickness.” Jesse Plemons as Agent Tom White of the newly formed Bureau of Investigation—now the FBI—does not show up until just over 2 hours into the movie. His part is not big but Plemons is a welcome presence because a new chapter of the story begins and perhaps now relief is at hand.

Scorsese is synonymous with gangster movies and has been accused of glamorizing the criminal lifestyle. He has admitted that to a certain degree this is necessary to show the allure of the criminal life. However, the bulk of any of those movies is dedicated to showing that though these characters find wealth and power, and are at times relatable and even funny, they are not good people and their reckless, destructive, violent behavior was not worth anything. With his later movies like The Departed (2006), The Wolf of Wall Street (2013), The Irishman (2019), and now Killers of the Flower Moon (2023), Scorsese has gone out of his way to not glamourize these characters in any way at all. There is nothing appealing about De Niro’s “King” Hale; he is only a rich and endlessly greedy man. Ernest is an average guy but a puppet, not in control over anything about his life. Every other criminal they deal with, even if they are memorable–and indeed many are–they are not admirable in any way, even if they provide some dark comic relief.

The film’s epilogue, which I won’t go into detail on, is maybe the most striking and even experimental piece of filmmaking Scorsese has ever done. It is jarring and even confusing at first. The film makes a self aware and reflective comment on itself and asks the audience to do the same. The final line, spoken softly and plainly, lands like a gut punch, staying with the audience long after the credits roll. This is a difficult film, an entertaining film, a challenging film, a great film. Scorsese is a magician who, in what should be his sunset years, continues to amaze. 

Best Pictures #102: 2023 (96th) Academy Awards Best Picture Nominee: Poor Things

by A.J.

Best Pictures #102: 2023 (96th) Academy Awards Best Picture Nominee

Poor Things

“I have adventured it and found nothing but sugar and violence.”

Poor Things is a strange and unusual movie and yet it tells a familiar story with familiar themes. It is a fable of a simpleton who goes out into the world, has new experiences, and inadvertently exposes the nonsense and hypocrisy of society that we all accept as normal. It is the approach and execution by director Yorgos Lanthimos and the stunning work by the costume designer and production designers that make Poor Things enjoyably outlandish and memorable. 

This dark, fractured fairy tale mixes elements of Frankenstein and Candide together in a steampunk blender. Emma Stone plays Bella Baxter, a living experiment who moves and sounds like a toddler-like creature though she has the body of an adult woman. She is the creation (of sorts) of mad scientist Dr. Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe), who is her father figure and does not mind that Bella’s nickname for him is “God.” He enlists Max McCandles (Ramy Youssef), one of his university students, to track Bella’s development. She learns and matures and of course Max falls in love with her, but Godwin’s lawyer, Duncan Wedderburn (Mark Ruffalo), whisks her away on a tour of Europe with the promise of experiencing life outside of Godwin’s house and laboratory. And so Bella’s journey of enlightenment and eroticism begins. 

Emma Stone and Mark Ruffalo’s perfectly over the top performances are a large part of why Poor Things works at all. Stone is great at the broad comedy required. More importantly, she makes Bella’s resilient optimism believable instead of naive or annoying. It’s clear from his very first scene that Wedderurn is a lascivious cad of questionable scruples and also a bit of a buffoon; Ruffalo’s cartoonish take on this character is just right. Bella and Wedderburn’s tour of Europe begins in Lisbon and consists of lots of sex, which Bella calls “furious jumping,” and then more sex. (This film is certainly not shy about sex and nudity.) As Bella learns and experiences more of the world and other people she becomes harder to control and Ruffalo really lets his character’s petulant and buffoonish side take over with great comic results. Even with all the sex and nudity the most interesting parts of Bella’s journey are her encounters with a fellow couple on a cruise, a wizened older woman played by Hanna Schygulla and her younger traveling companion played by Jarrod Carmichel, and her return to London where her optimism and shunning of cruelty are tested.

Unusual though the characters and story may be, it is the production design and costumes that make the film eye-catching and memorable. The look is a highly artificial late Victorian steampunk fantasy version of the world, and it is a feast for the eyes. The scenes on the Mediterranean cruise, especially at night, have an enchanting, surreal aesthetic. Production designers Shona Heath and James Price have done some stunning work and have rightfully received Oscar nominations. Likewise, Bella’s costumes with huge puffy shoulders by Holly Waddington, also Oscar nominated, help create the bizarre fairy tale vibe. 

There are many points where Poor Things could lose a viewer. The use of a fisheye lens and swish pans, favorite techniques of Lanthimos, are jarring and mostly unnecessary since the production design, costumes, and makeup effects are already doing the heavy lifting in creating the unusual aesthetic. However, the element that may be a strange step too far and downright off putting for some involves Bella’s backstory. I’m not sure if this qualifies as a spoiler as it is revealed relatively early on, but I will write about it now. Dr. Godwin tells Max about how one day he found the fresh corpse of a pregnant woman who jumped from a bridge into a river to kill herself. Unable to resist the scientific possibilities, but wanting to respect the woman’s wish to be dead, he put the brain of the unborn baby into the woman’s head and brought her to life. Hence Bella’s toddling and broken speech. Though she learns and matures quickly, just as Frankenstein’s Monster did, there’s a certain uneasiness to men fawning over Bella, whose mental development is still in progress, especially in the early scenes. 

Poor Things has been described by many as a feminist film about a young woman taking agency over her body and her mind. This is certainly true. However, I would certainly not contradict anyone who found its brand of feminism fishy, seeing as how it is about a simple minded woman whose journey of enlightenment and self-realization involves lots and lots of very casual sex. It might come as no surprise to some that the main creative voices behind the movie are all male: director Yorgos Lanthimos, screenwriter Tony McNamara, and Alasdair Gray who wrote the novel. 

Yorgos Lanthimos, whose previous films include Dogtooth, The Lobster, The Killing of a Sacred Deer, and the Oscar nominated The Favourite, is no stranger to offbeat and challenging subject matter. Somehow Poor Things almost feels like a departure for him since it lacks the grim darkness of his previous films. Bella’s ever flowing optimism and belief in kindness are the heart of the story and make this an ultimately optimistic, life affirming film.