GODS AND MONSTERS @ 25

Retired veteran Hollywood director James Whale lives alone with his bossy housekeeper, seducing the occasional young reporter and dealing with a difficult neurology. The statuesque beauty of the new yard man stops him in his tracks and he is wracked. But the younger man has pushback and this will take negotiation. That is the story of this film and it plays out as a kind of difficult truth game, taking both characters into dark territories of their own.

Whatever the intended themes that drove the narrative in 1998, the decades since have forced one in particular forward. With the downfall of a number of film industry tall poppies from cases of sexual malfeasance against them and the rise of the Me Too community the question of art vs artist claims this film released when the issue was less publicly visible. when the gushing young journalist grins at Whale and says, "you're a dirty old man," Whale acknowledges it almost as a compliment. It's easy enough to stop there and call this piece an antique but it does make that difficult through the application of depth.

The potential for othering is quashed early with a comparison in dialogue early on which has resonance in a later scene. Younger Clay's initial resistance to Whale's attempted seduction remains but it gives him pause for questions he has about himself and his own history. Whale's grim and poignant war service constantly haunts him and reminds him of how it ravaged his compassion. This is not offered as an excuse for Whale's predation but does serve as deep context that flows into his career in film. Significantly, Whale's approach to seduction does not include any career reward: his status is exhausted in his industry and has long been considered a pariah by his former colleagues. 

What we are left with is a figure whose youthful decadence plays like a hits and memories station as he grasps at winter cover versions. The story on a more metaphorical level pits this against a Frankenstein creature like figure in Clay the yard man and how Whale's masterpiece might provide deliverance for both. Whale's ultimate plea, made during the stormy climax, brings all of the themes into a knot which is cut rather than unravelled with patience to give us an ending. 

Gods and Monsters is mostly a two hander and depends on the strength of Ian McKellen as Whale and the younger Brendan Fraser as Clay. Each handles their past-ridden characters with a muscular skill and when the dialogue turns physical it feels well earned. Props to Lynn Redgrave for her well drawn and thankless Hanna.

The poignancy of this story takes an extra dimension in light of Brendan Fraser's own career which involved a sexual assault claim he made against a senior industry figure. This contributed to his vanishing from the fame radar for years. While he has appeared to have made his way back from this recently and has spoken openly about the case, I am unaware of any comment he has made on his role in this film. I have no more to say on that except that I would be interested to hear it.

Gods and Monsters is intended and offered as fiction and not biography and should be evaluated as such. I recall a friend complaining about Tim Burton's Ed Wood for its excluding mention of Wood's later life on a cinematic skid row of pornography, as though Burton's celebration of his individuality had not been the obvious focus. Gods and Monsters, uses a slice of a life story to ask questions and open conversations through a solidly entertaining tale. It is saddening that anyone not well informed of the great humanity and worldliness in Whale's work that ventured far beyond a few horror movies (thought they are among the best) and we are given a cackling old perv, at least initially. But this isn't a biography, it's more of a fable and its ending with the act of passing the fable on is, if tinged with sadness, warming.