We pay print homage to Guillermo del Toro’s passion project in this hand-illustrated new issue.
As a print magazine that prides itself on hand-crafted artistry, we have always felt like kindred spirits with the similarly inclined cine-sage, Guillermo del Toro. Back in the earliest years of this publication, his work enthralled and beguiled our writers and editors – in particular, Pan’s Labyrinth, which came out a year after our inception in 2005. In the interim years, we have made two issues around del Toro’s films: one on Crimson Peak, and another on The Shape of Water. Our newest issue, a shrine to his scintillating passion project, Frankenstein, makes it number three.
As we discovered from speaking to del Toro, making this film has been the cause of some mental anguish for this battle-hardened director. It’s not that he wasn’t able to fulfil his vision of Mary Shelley’s 1818 opus, more that he has been forced to ask the question: when you’ve made your dream project, what happens next? The film sees Oscar Isaac slinking into the role of morally dicey inventor and scientist, Victor Frankenstein, who decides to dedicate his life and work to creating a person from a mix of freshly-harvested limbs and organs and imbue the being with lifeforce. Why he chooses to do this is the cause of much speculation: in memory of his mother who died in childbirth?; as a show of mastery over his unenlightened colleagues?; to push the envelope of science and emulate his heroes?; or perhaps to impress a woman, his brother’s bride-to-be, Elizabeth (Mia Goth)?
As with the novel, del Toro’s film toggles perspectives between Victor, who recounts his tale of woe from the hulk of a moored Danish fishing vessel, and his Creature (Jacob Elordi), who is left to ponder the abject emptiness of his newfound existence. Though del Toro has much fun with scenes of surgical splatter, his film is probably closer to a romantic melodrama than it is classical horror. This is largely down to a trio of sublimely sensitive performances from the Isaac, Elordi and Goth, all of whom we sit down with and discuss the nuances of the story and their craft.
Inside the issue, we pick apart the craft of Frankenstein, as well as looking deeper into its influences, the del Toro oeuvre and the strange and sometimes eccentric cinematic legacy of Mary Shelley’s novel.
On the cover...
The two-tone screenprint on the cover was created by LWLies’ own art director Laurène Boglio. The template was first shaped in a laser cut machine and then wood and printed on paper with acrylic paint in the studio and with the help of Rebecca Staley.
Other illustrations in the issue were created by Ehren Barnard, Misha Chernov, Régina Dargère, Vasilisa Gladysheva, Eve MacMaster, Sophie Mo, Stéphanie Sergeant and Julia Specht. Art direction by Laurène Boglio.
Inside the issue...
Lead review: Frankenstein
Sophie Monks Kaufman grapples with Guillermo del Toro’s febrile, philosophical and tender melodrama.
Wildest Dreamer
Hannah Strong goes face to face with writer/director Guillermo del Toro to find out what it’s like to finally realise a dream project.
Creature Comforts
Jacob Elordi opens up about finding humanity and empathy in playing Victor Frankenstein’s cursed Creature.
Heart on a Slab
Oscar Isaac dissects one of classic literature’s most notorious and complex scientists in conversation with Hannah Strong.
The Quiet Woman
Rafa Sales Ross meets the great Mia Goth, whose sombre presence in Frankenstein gives the film a shot of melancholy.
Building the Monster
David Jenkins meets costume designer Kate Hawley and production designer Tamara Deverell to find out how they extracted images from Guillermo del Toro’s lively imagination.
Weird Science
Will Sloan tabulates 10 of the strangest screen adaptations of Mary Shelley’s epochal 1818 novel.
Blood & Ink
Jake Cole writes in praise of comic artist Bernie Wrightson and his influential graphic version of ‘Frankenstein’.
Anatomy of Hell
Illustrator and tattoo artist Sophie Mo takes a journey inside some of Guillermo del Toro’s most memorable monsters.
In the back section…
Jafar Panahi
Marina Ashioti talks to the Iranian legend who discusses his deserving Palme d’Or-winner, It Was Just an Accident.
Lynne Ramsey
Hannah Strong meets one of her film heroes to discuss the stylish psychodrama, Die My Love.
Julia Ducournau
The Alpha director talks about her new film’s sincere reflection of the Aids crisis with Hannah Strong.
Kelly Reichardt
The American auteur chats to David Jenkins about her stunning existential heist movie, The Mastermind.
Harris Dickinson
The actor-turned-director on the euphoric struggle of making his debut feature, Urchin.
Nia DaCosta
Leila Latif talks Hedda and the upswing of Black talent in Hollywood with this industrious writer/director.
In review
Jafar Panahi’s It Was Just an Accident
Edward Berger’s Ballad of a Small Player
Luca Guadagnino’s After the Hunt
Lynne Ramsey’s Die My Love
Clint Bentley’s Train Dreams
Julia Ducournau’s Alpha
Lucile Hadžihalilović’s The Ice Tower
Noah Baumbach’s Jay Kelly
Harris Dickingson’s Urchin
Yorgos Lanthimos’ Bugonia
Derek Cianfrance’s Roofman
Pedro Pinho’s I Only Rest in the Storm
Radu Jude’s Kontinental ’25
Richard Linklater’s Blue Moon
Kelly Reichardt’s The Mastermind
David Osit’s Predators
Charlie Shackleton’s Zodiac Killer Project
Nicolas Jack Davies’ Omar and Cedric: If This Ever Gets Weird
Annemarie Jacir’s Palestine 36
Harry Lighton’s Pillion
Nia DaCosta’s Hedda
Carmen Emmi’s Plainclothes
Boris Lojkine’s Souleymane’s Story
Matthew Turner and David Jenkins dive into the best Home Ents releases, while Hannah Strong reports from the Venice and San Sebastian film festivals, while Sophie Monks Kaufman sends back a postcard from the Dinard film festival.
Join Club LWLies as a 35mm or 70mm member to subscribe, or get a copy of LWLies 108 via our online shop.
from Little White Lies - Main https://ift.tt/CUGVwS4
0 Comments