Originally published May 22, 2017. Updated April 16, 2018.
Colossal, 2016.
Directed by Nacho Vigalondo.
Starring Anne Hathaway, Jason Sudeikis, Dan Stevens, Tim Blake Nelson, and Austin Stowell.
SYNOPSIS:
Gloria is an out-of-work party girl forced to leave her life in New York City, and move back home. When reports surface that a giant creature is destroying Seoul, she gradually comes to the realization that she is somehow connected to this phenomenon.
From watching the initial trailer for Colossal I walked into this movie firmly expecting an offbeat indie comedy about a woman who somehow is/controls a giant monster that’s attacking Seoul. Instead it is a strange black comedy with extremely dark themes of alcoholism, self-loathing and domestic abuse. In places it’s laugh out loud and in others legitimately unnerving and disturbing.
Anne Hathaway (superbly cast and one of her best performances) plays Gloria an out of control party girl who drinks way too much and is in a downward spiral. After her boyfriend Tim (Stevens) kicks her out she heads back to her home town and bumps into old school friend Oscar (Sudeikis). Oscar runs a local bar and spends every night after closing drinking with his buddies Joel (Stowell) and Garth (Blake Nelson). Gloria joins them and after waking up from another drink binge she sees that a giant monster has decimated a large part of Seoul. After realising that she is somehow responsible we get some great comedy moments before the reality hits. In one stand out scene when Gloria is a bit drunk and having some fun as the monster she accidentally trips and falls, causing the monster to destroy an entire section of city and killing countless people. Gloria’s immediate reaction when she awakes is “how many people did I kill?” it shows that Colossal isn’t going to be the typical type of film you were expecting. It is dark, gritty and its third act is superb.
Whilst Hathaway carries the film extremely well, it is the usually comedic Jason Sudeikis as Oscar who is a revelation. Initially playing a character we’ve seen many times before, but as the stakes get higher the darkness within him comes to the surface and he is complex and frightening.
There’s no cute romance like you’d expect in Colossal and no definitive ending but it raises a lot of questions about addiction and the people we surround ourselves with and whether we all have monsters lurking beneath. It is a finely crafted oddball movie that’s definitely worth experiencing.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★
Helen Murdoch
