Frankenstein, directed by Guillermo Del Toro, is one of the best movies released this year. This movie wasn’t just about a monster. It has elements of father-son dynamics, what it means to live and die, and how we perceive what being a perfect creation really is. Guillermo has a real talent for being able to blend horror with humanity, and stars like Mia Goth, Oscar Isaac, and Jacob Elordi just helped get Guillermo’s ideas onto the screen in such an amazing way with their performances.
At first glance, Frankestien is just a movie about a scientist named Victor Frankenstein creating a monster like we’ve heard and seen so many times, but after Victor creates the “monster”, we can tell this isn’t just like any other Frankenstein or monster movie; we can see the monster not as a monster but just a living thing. Guillermo allows us to empathise with the so-called “monster” as we see he’s truly just a new being trying to find out what life really is.
Victor was trying to make the perfect being, but he made a being that was flawed and made mistakes, and needed to learn, and so Victor decided to label it a monster. But as we watch, we see the realisation that if the Creature is a monster, then so are we as humans because we are just as flawed and as imperfect a being as the creature is.
Del Toro’s Signature directing and visual style helped elevate the narrative even further. The production design is gothic and dark yet almost fantastical. The sets feel tactile and lived in, and the olighting is moody and expressive. Guillermo can combine realism with some variations of fantasy to create a beautiful world that the audience wants to dive into. Even the creature’s design is a perfect balance of unsettling and vulnerable, which allows people watching be able to empathise with him. The score adds emotional weight, which connects you even further into the movie.
Del Toro poured his whole heart into this movie, and you could tell it was something he had been wanting to create for a long time. In an interview on Netflix, Del Toro said, “This film brings to an end a journey that began for me when I was 7 years old”.
The performance from the lead actors is amazing. Oscar Isaac brings a chilling intensity to Victor Frankenstein, capturing his slip out of reality and his questioning of what it means to be perfect. Mia Goth delivers a complex and memorable performance, adding layers to the story that help build other characters. But perhaps the most amazing performance out of the bunch was no other than Jacob Elordi, who plays the creature. The raw vulnerability he brings to the role, tied with the physical acting he did, you could tell he knew every facial expression, and flinch mattered, and he brought that to the screen
Many people, such as me, have fallen in love with the movie, such as ERHS student Rosie Chavez, who said, ” I loved the movie even tho I cried a lot and loved how it showed the movie from the ‘monsters’ perspective”.
Overall, Guillermo Frankenstein was a beautifully shot, emotionally raw film that respected the source material while still offering a brand new look at the characters and the story. It’s a film you think about long after you finish watching it, that makes you think about life, death, and what it truly means to be perfect. It is easily one of the best films released this year.
