What if Godzilla were a projection of your issues? That’s the question posed by Colossal, a film that fuses comedy with the Japanese kaiju genre to tell the story of an unemployed train wreck (Anne Hathaway) who accidentally unleashes her angst on South Korea in the form of a gigantic quasi-reptilian monster.
The film’s premise would be hilarious even if it didn’t work so well. Hard-drinking Gloria (Hathaway) parties too much without thinking about the consequences, and after one too many late nights, her boyfriend (Dan Stevens) kicks her out. In a funk, she returns to her hometown and rekindles a friendship with her friend Oscar (Jason Sudeikis), taking a job at his bar. But her dreams of a fresh start are waylaid as she slides back into old habits — drinking till last call, stumbling home, and sleeping in too late. When she emerges from her haze one day to the news that a giant monster is stomping its way through the panicked metropolis of Seoul, it’s clear she’s awakened to a different world. But when she begins to suspect that the monster might somehow be connected to her, things look stranger still. In a refreshing way, Colossal spins its premise into a clever and cathartic satire about gender politics and standing up against one’s insecurities in a competitive world.
(Canada, Spain / 2016 / Directed by Nacho Vigalondo)
R / 1 hr 50 mins.
