Runtime: 124 minutes
Directed by: David Lynch
Starring: Anthony Hopkins, John Hurt, John Gielgud, Anne Bancroft, Wendy Hiller
From: Paramount
As I've reviewed four of the first five David Lynch feature length movies, it only made logical sense to close that loop and talk about the fifth and final. What a tragic figure Joseph (sometimes referred to as John for reasons unknown to me; he was called John here so that's what I'll go with for the rest of the review) Merrick was. Massively deformed due to an affliction or various afflictions which still have not been confirmed by medical experts, many were horrified by his appearance but he was actually rather articulate and a friendly fellow.
Hollywood being Hollywood, a tale “based on a true story” has various facts along with some embellishments. Joshua was not actually abused by a real A-hole who toured him around as one of the main attractions in a “freak show”, to mention the biggest example. Be that as it may, it's a moving tale filled with great performances where it's easy to feel sympathy for Merrick. It was a great performance by John Hurt there; Lord knows how difficult it must have been to act under all that prosthetics, which hampered his speech because that IRL was a problem Merrick had. Also great was Anthony Hopkins as London surgeon Frederick Treves who “saved” Joshua but he himself questions if his behavior and his treatment of Merrick is in Merrick's best interests.
As it's Lynch, of course the movie's universe is brought to life rather well; in this case, it takes a negative view of the Industrial Revolution's impact on London. It's a dark dreary world filled with choking smoke and steam. In addition, the sound design is aces and no surprise that in a movie otherwise straightforward, there are a few surrealist dream sequences involving Joshua's mother and elephants, then a weird space journey at the very end. It's a motion picture which very well could make you teary-eyed at least once by all the ups and downs you see in Merrick's brief but unforgettable life.
To mention a few asides, it's hilarious that Mel Brooks was one of the producers of the film and he had to see Eraserhead before allowing Lynch to direct; by all appearances he loved it. Apparently, Lynch wasn't a fan of London's bleary weather... and he missed eating Bob's Big Boy burgers every day?! That's what I read and it's incredible yet somehow not surprising he'd be addicted to such a restaurant chain. In addition, from Letterboxd I discovered that the boy who played the assistant of the real A-hole freak show exhibitor... that was Dexter Fletcher, who not only has had over 60 acting credits to his name, he became a director whose most famous work was Rocketman.
No comments:
Post a Comment