Gods and Monsters is sort of a movie about famous director
James Whale. However, its hardly a biography. I'm
pretty sure that most of what we have here is fiction but it does mesh well with the reality, not unlike the underlying theme of the move... Reality clashing with or intertwining with fantasy, depending on your perspective. Whale is best remembered for filming some of the most famous monster movies ever made, including the original Frankenstein, The
Bride of Frankenstein, and the Invisible Man. In some ways this film actually reminded me a little bit of Ed Wood except this one definitely isn't played for laughs. Still, one can't deny there are some similarities between sick and washed up Bela Lugosi and sick and washed up
James Whale. Naturally, the fact that both were involved in horror films makes more parallels.
Ian McKellen of X-Men fame plays Whale and does a great job in what must have been a fairly difficult role. Brendan Fraser plays a young gardener named Clayton that Whale becomes infatuated with. Whale, a famous Hollywood homosexual may be interested in Clayton's body or perhaps something even more bizarre. His intentions don't become exactly clear until the end of the film which is a good thing suspense wise. Lynn Redgrave plays Whale's kooky maid and steals quite a few scenes with her stellar performance which got her an oscar nomination I believe. There is a bit of comedy that is cleverly flushed out in the scenes between Redgrave and Fraser's characters. Some good fun there.
Its hard to go wrong when a movie is made about Hollywood and the nutty crowd that works and funs there in the warm California sun. What the director tries to do here (I believe he also wrote the oscar winning screenplay) is portray what happens so often to people living in the world's film making capitol of fantasy and "dream" making. They find themselves lost in a bizarre mixture of reality, created reality, the surreal, and brutal, yet subtle Hollywood reality. It's a tough world out there kids.
And of course no one actually tries to protect their sanity by avoiding partying, drinking, drugs, sex orgies, etc. That just wouldn't be cool...and cool is the thing you know!
As portrayed in the film Gods and Monsters, Whale is a complex dude traumatized by his service in World War 1, traumatized by Hollywood's fickle fancy, traumatized by bad health, and looking for a way out of it all...by any means possible. (but hopefully an artistic means amigos) Clayton the gardener gets caught up in all this at the eleventh hour and apparently manages to salvage a tiny snippet of purpose and self-worth from what would seem to be a very harrowing experience.
It's certainly quite interesting to watch a depiction of a highly creative, highly strung, and highly stressed person implode. Its sort of the flame is the brightest right before the end sort of thing I suppose. There are some people who were just born to lead lives that never quite make it to quiet. Ha!
This film was very well received by critics, it won lots of awards and was nominated for many others. One can see why because the subject of the film (Whale) was an interesting character by all accounts and there are some very dramatic scenes that came off nicely thanks to tight directing and taut acting. Of course this isn't something that many people would enjoy in the least. It is sorta high brow entertainment you would think...sort of a movie made for people who like movies, that type of thing.
What director Conlon is obviously trying to do is not only make a film about a famous Hollywood director but also ape his techniques. Gods and Monsters is a lot like Frankenstein...there is an odd but usually effective mix of pathos, black comedy, surrealism, and heavy drama. I think Conlon succeeds for the most part but I somehow come away from it all thinking the film might have been even better with a bit of polishing here and there. Think of it as near great. Brendan Fraser is not the world's worse actor but maybe he is a bit overstretched here. Someone like perhaps a slightly younger Robert Downey Jr, or maybe even Edward Norton could have really pushed this movie over the top. Fraser essentially provides a hunky body but some additional, truly hunky acting chops might have really made Gods and Monsters a monster of a movie. Still, its well worth watching if you're in to the artsy stuff. Give it a shot!! If nothing else its fun to see all the old clips of the famous horror films from the thirties. Overall a very interesting film on several levels.