Capturing the teenage experience on film is a difficult task, nevertheless it seemed that Eighties Hollywood was as much as the task. Breakfast Club, Say anything, Sixteen candlesand countless other highschool movies told their very own story about this turbulent period of adolescence, but a recent subgenre grew out of this trend: twisted highschool movie; sci-fi movies or dark comedies Heathers, Strange scienceand even Back to the future.
Over 40 years later Lisa Frankenstein, Zelda Williams’ good directorial debut, proves that she not only has a deep understanding of the best way to portray teenage romance on screen, but additionally how the classic ’80s movies that got here before it understood it. The result is a dark, neon-tinged sci-fi tale that mixes classic romance with a vengeful teenage story so authentic it might have been pulled from a diary with a novelty lock.
The film tells the story of Lisa (Kathryn Newtown), a highschool student from Dweeby, whose life revolves around one tragedy: the tragic death of her mother after a robbery. Since then, her father has remarried to a control freak named Janet (Carla Gugino), and she or he has needed to learn to coexist together with her recent queen bee stepsister, Taffy (Liza Soberano).
Apart from working as a seamstress in a laundry, falling in love with the editor of the school’s literary magazine and frequent trips to the abandoned bachelor’s cemetery, there is not much else for her to do. But the whole lot changes when a strange storm revives one of the bodies buried there (Cole Sprouse), and he immediately finds the girl who spent a lot time with him. Lisa and the Thing share a sense of ostracism and go on a murderous quest together, each for revenge and for body parts.
The script was written by the all the time astute author Diablo Cody (Jennifer’s body, Juno), this is where the film really shines. The humor draws on ’80s popular culture references for classic one-liners and dark jokes that test the film’s PG-13 limits. The characters are heightened to the point of camp, but never come across as the caricatures that many movies set in the Eighties discuss with.
Even though this story is romantic, it is romantic despite that tone, not because of this: Lisa is not searching for a boyfriend when the Thing is resurrected, nor was he created just so she could possibly be with him. They are each just lost souls who’ve suffered tragic losses and want one another to make it occur. As the Creature becomes increasingly more human with each missing piece, Lisa becomes increasingly more confident. No one is created in Lisa Frankenstein. They are only being discovered.
Thanks to such a complex script, each principal characters fit their roles exceptionally well. Kathryn Newton brings her years of experience in the teen genre to make Lisa greater than just a Molly Ringwald clone, and Cole Sprouse can convey multiple meanings through grunts and sideways glances. Even though they cannot even talk over with one another, they’ve a chemistry that rivals the heat generated by Winona Ryder and Christian Slater in Heathers.
These nuances prove that Zelda Williams is a name value taking note of, not only her family connections. Even though this movie has a lot of kills, it manages to balance brutality and light-hearted adventure, while still having the characters face real consequences for his or her actions. The direction seems grounded, and while the characters may grow to be murderers, it’s never a film shot like a slasher film.
Lisa Frankenstein is the rare kind of film that balances a novel story with a nostalgic setting through a lens that truly appeals to Gen Z. It may look like Mary Shelley fan fiction, but that is only because she knows the best way to paint a portrait of teenage loneliness – and the teenage rage that follows .
Lisa Frankenstein premieres in cinemas on February 9.
This article was originally published on
Credit : www.inverse.com
