Tropic Sprockets / Colossal

By Ian Brockway

Most cinephiles, I think, like a good monster film, from the original “The Thing” with James Arness to the beloved Kong, king of all monsters. The genre gives us a genuine thrill and an escape, an adrenaline flight of what it feels like to go to the movies.  “Colossal” by Spanish director Nacho Vigalondo has something of this escapist matinee feeling, but as other recent horror films like “It Follows” and “Get Out,” it is surprisingly moody and thoughtful, full of meaning and social commentary.

While it may seem a Kaiju monster movie by outward appearances, this film goes beyond its Gargantuan trappings. Gloria (Ann Hathaway) is a struggling writer living with her boyfriend Tim (Dan Stevens). One morning, a hungover Gloria returns to find that Tim has had enough of her late night binges and has packed her bags. This initial scene sets the uneasy tone and has the feel of an eerie mumble-core drama.

Gloria is floored and decides to move back to her home-state. Seemingly by chance, she meets her childhood friend, Oscar (Jason Sudeikis) who persuades Gloria to have a drink with him. As it turns out, Oscar runs a bar inherited from his father and Gloria gets drunk.

The next morning, Gloria awakens in a playground with a sinking feeling that she can’t shake. Then through the internet, she learns that Seoul, South Korea has been attacked by a giant monster. Gloria is left with nightmarish impressions that she is part of this creature that went on a murderous rampage at exactly the same time that she entered the park.

Gloria feels comfortable with Oscar and tells him at the bar that she has to show him something. With Oscar’s friend, (Austin Stowell) watching a live cam from Seoul, Gloria’s movements mimic the creature’s own, and it is established that somehow this reptile is Gloria’s Id, her shadow self once she starts on the path to  drunkenness.

Gloria is devastated, since her drinking has in effect, caused the slaughter of hundreds of South Koreans. Then another horror: on the webcam, a second figure appears next to the alien, a towering mechanized robot under the control of Oscar. So, we have two kindred souls bound by alcoholism and their (at times) monstrous selves.

This film is a wondrous daring and meaningful surprise that succeeds because Sudeikis and Hathaway play it all so straight with heart and feeling. Both actors are not afraid to leave comic touches behind, and this is especially evident with Sudeikis who is well seasoned by his own unique brand of self deprecation, honed from his work with SNL.

But make no mistake: segments of this film are quite emotional. Issues of rage, co-dependency coupled with the darkness of alcoholism and what it means to be irresponsible are all in force. In flashes, Sudeikis is almost as frightening as Jack Nicholson in “The Shining”. Indeed, there are more than a few hairs of menace within his beard. The sight of Gloria confronting a hugely macho Oscar, eyes glazed from booze as he is enthralled by the drunken power of his own transformation, is enough to make your hands tense, but it will also thrill you. Through it all is the heartrending circumstance that these two care for each other, yet they are powerless to control themselves and the harmful shadows that they both create.

“Colossal” is a film that shifts back and forth and resists a category. It is not a “creature feature” film or a midnight movie, nor is it a drama in the literal sense. But it does have all of these elements. Whether you view it as a sci-fi film with its share of pathos or see it as a quirky drama, “Colossal” is a definite rollercoaster that delivers more than its share of entertaining shocks in its revealing of the very human shadows that exist within.

Write Ian at [email protected]

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