Lisa Frankenstein: 3 stars
Fifteen years after “Jennifer’s Body,” writer Diablo Cody returns to the horror genre with a teen riff on Mary Shelley’s gothic masterpiece. “Lisa Frankenstein,” now playing in theatres, breathes life into a reanimated corpse and the misunderstood teenager who loves him.
Set in 1989, the phantasmagorical romantic comedy stars Kathryn Newton as Lisa Swallows, a gloomy Goth who feels out of step with the world. “Lisa looks good,” says her stepsister Taffy (Liza Soberano). “She could even do pageants if she had congeniality.”
Lisa, the survivor of a horrific axe attack that took the life of her mother, writes dark poetry, watches silent movies and hangs around the Bachelor Grove Cemetery, a rundown burial ground near her high school. She makes wax rubbings of the gravestones, and is particularly drawn to the marker of a handsome young Victorian era man whose bust sits atop his grave.
“I just don’t think anyone should be forgotten,” she says.
At school, she has a crush on Michael (Henry Eikenberry), the hipster editor of the school literary magazine, but her withdrawn nature prevents her from making the first move. “I can always count on Lisa to work Saturdays,” says her boss at the dry cleaner where she is a seamstress, “because she can’t get a date.”
At home, her father (Joe Chrest) is the mild-mannered counterpart to her evil stepmother (Carla Gugino), a psychiatric nurse who would love nothing more than to ship Lisa off to a residential psych ward.
When a freak lightning storm strikes the crucifix necklace Lisa draped over her favourite grave, the young man (“Riverdale’s” Cole Sprouse) is reanimated and makes his way to Lisa’s home. After a meet-not-so-cute, they form an emotional connection.
They complete one another, except that he’s not quite complete. He’s almost perfect, save for some culture shock and a few missing bits and pieces, which they attempt to replace and rebuild with the help of a few unwilling victims and the electric charge of a faulty tanning bed.
“Lisa Frankenstein” isn’t just a gender swapped “Weird Science,” or a riff on the scientific hubris of “Frankenstein.” It’s a high school outsider story about loss and love with a hint of mayhem thrown in for good measure. Cody’s screenplay is often more strange than actually funny, but the underlying theme of forming connections — even if it is with a guy who “speaks” in grunts — is heartfelt and even touching. Sure, it’s still a slasher movie, but one more interested in what makes the heart beat, not what stops the heart from beating.
Newton, who visually channels “Who’s That Girl” era Madonna, is eccentric yet charming, building empathy for Lisa, even though she’s aiding and abetting some pretty heinous acts in the name of love.
As the zombie heartthrob, Sprouse radiates heavy Edward Scissorhands vibes in a role Johnny Depp would likely have played if this movie was made in the early 1990s.
Gugino goes all in as a mommy dearest type but it is Soberano who steals scenes as Taffy, Lisa’s superficial but big-hearted stepsister.
In “Lisa Frankenstein” director Zelda Williams, daughter of the late, great Robin Williams, creates a stylistic homage to both John Hughes and Tim Burton. It’s a sweet and strange zombie love story that understands teenage angst and how the heart wants what it wants, even if that heart no longer beats.
Sometimes I Think About Dying: 3 ½ stars
A movie best described as a melancomedy, a mix of melancholy and comedy, “Sometimes I Think About Dying,” now playing in theatres, is a subdued, tender study of social anxiety and disconnection.
Daisy Ridley pauses the blockbuster phase of her career to play Fran, a withdrawn office worker who avoids eye contact, lives alone and rarely says a word. Her jocular co-workers mostly just ignore her, leaving her alone, save for her computer and spreadsheets, in the faraway corner of their workspace.
At night, in the privacy of her own home, she passes the time imagining herself dead, her body displayed in various, artful tableaus, like a Viking funeral or pastoral forest setting. She doesn’t have a death wish, she’s just fascinated with the morbid idea of it all, of how it might feel to be dead. Of how the void of death would differ from the void that is her life.
She is invisible to everyone at work, except new hire Robert (Dave Merheje). He’s a chatty, friendly guy who fills the air with stream of consciousness observations about what would happen if an armchair was actually shaped like an arm, and the like.
On his first day on the job, he tells everyone he likes Thai food, going to the movies and uncomfortable silences. Sounds like he and Fran will get along just fine.
And they do.
Their friendship begins with a work-related email exchange which blossoms into a movie date. Desperate for connection, they are drawn to one another, uncomfortable silences and all.
“Sometimes I Think About Dying” is a quiet film that revels in its mundanity. From the idle chit chat around the office and the casual bonhomie of friends playing a murder mystery game to the awkward getting-to-know-you stage of a relationship and falling asleep while watching a movie, it’s a case study of everyday life, from the perspective of a person overwhelmed by life.
Ridley hands in a career best performance as someone uncomfortable even in her own comfort zone. Fran could have been a cipher, a character with no discernable traits, but Ridley does a lot with little. Her extreme reserve is a mask, and Ridley haltingly allows personality to peek through. It’s a beautiful, quiet performance that could have been dreary, but Ridley creates something in the absence of any front-facing personality traits.
Another standout is Marcia DeBonis as Carol, a former workmate who delivers a devastating, but understated monologue near the end of the film. Carol and Fran have nothing in common except for occupying the same space while they worked together. But in a heartfelt and heartbreaking way, Carol gives Fran hope. No spoilers here, but this scene and the one immediately following are the film’s payoff.
“Sometimes I Think About Dying” is beyond low key, with no real conflict to speak of, other than one unexpectedly caustic remark that, given the quiet tone of the film, lands with the power of a punch to the jaw. Driven by ideas rather than story points, the movie requires patience, but for a film about the absence of emotion, delivers a sensitive and emotional conclusion to Fran’s story.
Float: 2 ½ stars
“Float,” a new romance starring “Kim Convenience’s” Andrea Bang and “Upload’s” Robbie Amell, and now playing in theatres, is an old-fashioned romance about having to choose between family expectations and love.
Set during the summer before Waverly (Bang) is to do a medical residency in Toronto, the story begins with the young protagonist making a detour from a planned visit with her parents in Taiwan. She hasn’t seen them in years, not since she began studying medicine in Chicago. “They make sure I have everything I need,” she says, “but they don’t really know me.”
At the last minute she detours and stops over to visit with her hippie-ish aunt (Michelle Krusiec) in Tofino, B.C.
“I haven’t had time off since med school,” Waverly says. “Now is my chance. I haven’t told my parents.”
It’s a rare impulsive move for Waverly, who until this point has followed a path in life predetermined by her mother and father.
When she almost drowns, charming and handsome lifeguard Blake (Amell) comes to her rescue. He’s a local, tethered to the town by family obligations. The two hit it off, and as Waverly settles into life in the beach town, Blake gives her swimming lessons.
“Why are you doing this?” she asks.
“I like spending time with you,” he says.
They fall in love, but will the expectations of Waverly’s parents prevent them from having a life together?
If you can’t figure out how “Float” ends then you may want to rethink your Harlequin Book of the Month subscription. The escapist story, about finding a path forward in life using love as a compass, may be predictable, but writer and co-director (adapting a wildly successful Wattpad story by writer Kate Marchant) Sherren Lee provides just enough conflict between Waverly and her parents, and Blake and his sister, to keep the movie on a low dramatic simmer throughout.
This is a story about, as Waverly says, finding a logical family over a biological family. It’s about the joys of friendship and love, and opening oneself up to new experiences and people. To that end, Lee casts an appealing supporting cast with King Bach, Rukiya Bernard, Sarah Desjardins, Ghazal Azarbad and Tristan Arthurs, playing members of Waverly’s supportive new family.
It’s fitting, given the setting of the film, that “Float” is the equivalent of a summer beach read. Despite some clunky, earnest dialogue — “I want to stay here with you but I want to be a doctor,” sounds like a rejected line from a Hallmark movie — the movie does what it set out to do: put a new spin on a classic genre.
