Colossal (film)

Colossal
Teaser poster
Directed by	Nacho Vigalondo
Produced by	Nahikari Ipiña Russell Levine Nicolas Chartier Zev Foreman Dominic Rustam
Written by	Nacho Vigalondo
Starring	Anne Hathaway Jason Sudeikis Dan Stevens Austin Stowell Tim Blake Nelson
Music by	Bear McCreary
Cinematography	Eric Kress
Edited by	Ben Baudhuin Luke Doolan
Production company	Voltage Pictures Brightlight Pictures Sayaka Producciones
Distributed by	Neon
Release date	September 9, 2016 (2016-09-09) (TIFF) April 7, 2017 (2017-04-07) (United States)
Running time	110 minutes
Country	Canada Spain[1]
Language	English
Budget	$15 million[2]
Box office	$4.3 million[3][4]

Colossal is a 2016 science fiction black comedy film directed and written by Nacho Vigalondo. The film stars Anne Hathaway, Jason Sudeikis, Dan Stevens, Austin Stowell, and Tim Blake Nelson, telling a story about Gloria, an unemployed young writer played by Hathaway, who is unwittingly causing a giant monster to wreak havoc halfway across the world.

The film's world premiere was at the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival. It was released on April 7, 2017, by Neon. Filmed in six weeks on a budget of $15 million in Vancouver, the film grossed $4.3 million, but received mostly positive critic reviews.

Plot

Gloria is an unemployed writer struggling with alcoholism. Her errant behavior prompts her frustrated boyfriend Tim to break up with her and kick her out of their New York City apartment. Forced to move back to her Middle American hometown, Gloria ends up reuniting with her childhood friend Oscar, who now runs his late father's bar. Oscar is warm and welcoming to Gloria; he brings her an old television set for her unfurnished house and also offers her a job at the bar to help her get back on her feet, which Gloria accepts.

Working with Oscar at the bar aggravates Gloria's alcohol problem. After each shift she joins Oscar and his friends Garth and Joel in their ritual of hanging out and drinking until morning. Gloria takes to sleeping it off on a bench near a children's playground. At the same time, a giant reptilian kaiju appears in Seoul, South Korea, leaving death and destruction in its wake. Gradually, Gloria realizes that when she walks through the playground at exactly 8:05 am, she causes the monster to manifest, and the creature's movements correspond with her own.

Gloria reveals her secret to Oscar and his friends, but the situation becomes more complicated when Oscar steps onto the playground and causes a giant robot to appear in Seoul. Gloria ultimately tries to make amends by having the monster spell out an apology on the ground in Korean, to the delight of the South Koreans and the media, and she begins to avoid both the playground and alcohol.

After spending the night with Joel, Gloria discovers that a drunken Oscar is using the robot to taunt the South Koreans. After a tense confrontation, Gloria manages to make him leave. Oscar is jealous, believing that something happened between Gloria and Joel. Later that night at the bar, he drunkenly insults his friends and demands that Gloria have a drink. Oscar threatens Gloria to obey him, saying he will return to the playground if she does not. The next morning, a sobered up Oscar confesses his remorse and pleads with Gloria to forgive him. Gloria accepts his apology, but it is clear that Oscar continues to want to control her.

Tim shows up in town on a pretense in order to see Gloria. Oscar provokes a confrontation that ends with him setting off a large firework inside the bar. He follows this up by boasting that, no matter how he behaves, he knows that Gloria will remain under his thumb. He later shows up at Gloria's house, telling her he is there to prevent her from going back to New York with Tim.

A flashback to a freak incident in which a lightning flash struck both Gloria and Oscar when they were kids passing near the playground area reveals to Gloria how she and Oscar are able to manifest their avatars in South Korea. She also realizes why Oscar acts out in violence and manipulation – he hates himself. She resolves to leave town with Tim. Oscar, intending to make good on his threat, heads for the playground. When Gloria follows, Oscar beats her, leaving her on the ground while he terrorizes Seoul.

Upon returning to her house, Gloria comes up with a plan to stop Oscar. She flies to South Korea, apologizing to Tim for not coming with him. Once again at 8:05 am, U.S. time, Oscar causes the giant robot to manifest in Seoul. As she heads towards Oscar's avatar, Gloria causes her monster to appear again, this time at the playground. Clutched in the monster's giant hand, Oscar is vicious and controlling to the end, telling Gloria to "put me down, you fucking bitch!" At that, the Gloria/kaiju throws Oscar off into the distance, causing the giant robot to be launched into the sky, disappearing from Seoul.

Her mission accomplished, Gloria retreats to an empty bar in Seoul. Settling into her seat, Gloria promises the young waitress an incredible story. Offered a drink, Gloria simply lets out a long sigh.

Cast

• Anne Hathaway as Gloria, an unemployed writer.^[5]
  • Hannah Cheramy as young Gloria
• Jason Sudeikis as Oscar, Gloria's childhood friend who works as a bar owner.^[6]
  • Nathan Ellison as young Oscar
• Dan Stevens as Tim, Gloria's ex-boyfriend.^[7]
• Austin Stowell as Joel, Gloria's love interest.^[8]
• Tim Blake Nelson as Garth, Oscar's friend.^[9]
• Rukiya Bernard as Marie^[10]
• Agam Darshi as Ash^[10]

Production

Hathaway was the first actress to sign on at a time when the project had no financial backing.^[11] Hathaway heard about the script after finding herself "in a little bit of an artistic no man's land" for inspiration, director Jonathan Demme screened for her a copy of A Field in England after which Hathaway decided that such a movie represented exactly the type of movie she wanted to make.^[12] After asking her representation to see a similar script that she could join she was sent the Colossal script.^[12] Hathaway found herself attached to the genre hopping nature of the script, later comparing it to Being John Malkovich, one of her favorite films.^[11]

Prior to the start of filming, Japanese company Toho brought a lawsuit against Voltage Pictures for using Godzilla's image and stills from previous Godzilla films in emails and press documents sent to potential investors.^[13] A settlement was reached that October.^[14]

Principal photography on the film also began that month in Vancouver,^[6][9][15] and ended on November 25, 2015.^[16] No motion captured footage was used for the creation of the monster rather footage of Hathaway acting out her parts were given to the CG team who used these as reference points.^[17] The CG artists, as opposed to Vigalondo, were responsible for the look of the monster itself. Vigalondo has stated that this was partly due to his lack of artistic skill and partly due to him "[wanting] them to feel like characters that felt like a part of the genre we're playing with".^[17]

Release

The film had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 9, 2016.^[18] Shortly after, a mystery unnamed company acquired distribution rights to the film,^[19] which was later announced as Neon, a newly-founded distribution company.^[20] The film went onto screen at the Sundance Film Festival on January 20, 2017.^[21] The film was released on April 7, 2017.^[22] It grossed $3,189,184 in the U.S. market and $1,151,575 in other markets, totalling $4,340,759.^[3]

LegionM, the first fan-owned studio, partnered with Neon to help bring the film to market.^[23]

Critical response

On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 80% based on 194 reviews, with an average rating of 7.2/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Colossal's singular strangeness can be disorienting, but viewers who hang on may find that its genre-defying execution -- and Anne Hathaway's performance -- is well worth the ride."^[24] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 70 out of 100, based on 36 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".^[25]

Writing for RogerEbert.com, Matt Zoller Seitz awarded Colossal 3.5 out of 4 stars, saying "the cast is quietly superb, that the movie always knows what it is and what it wants to say."^[26] IGN awarded it 7.0 out of 10, saying "It isn't always successful, but when the film works, it's a blast – another completely original and unique genre mash-up from the mad mind of Nacho Vigalondo."^[27] Peter Travers of Rolling Stone awarded it 3.5 out of 4, saying "Colossal is seriously unmissable".^[28]

Jake Coyle writing for the Associated Press gave it 2 out of 4 stars, saying "The one-trick act of "Colossal" becomes tiresome even as its leads -- particularly an excellent Hathaway -- work to find some depth in the story.".^[29] Mark Jenkins of NPR said "The longer the movie runs, the more its novelty fades. The tone wavers, and plot holes that appeared small at the halfway point start looking like chasms."^[30] Rex Reed of the New York Observer gave it 0 out of 4 stars, saying the film was "almost as unwatchable as it incomprehensible".^[31]

References

External links

• Official website
• Colossal on IMDb
• Colossal at Rotten Tomatoes