#anna-logs

But yeah, just own it and admit you move to Monaco for the financial benefits? Like we really don’t care guys

Yeah using the UK as an example of a place of privacy was not a good call. That's my bad 😭. Tabloid culture in the UK is one of the most invasive in the world and basically the final boss of invasive paparazzi. You're right that the security in Monaco is actually good and it does prevent many incidents that would have happened anywhere else. Monaco is basically a gated community with the most police officers per capita with a zero tolerance for crime. It's one of the safest places in the world. However, Monaco offers elite physical security, but it provides zero social anonymity. Instead of paps hiding in bushes, you have iphones in your face.

My main gripe is the reminiscing. Talking about the old days where they could walk their dog in the daytime or something feels very hollow when there's a very easy solution to this: don't live in Monaco :/ Obviously, moving away isn't going to fix the crazy fan behaviour and harassment (and that's a separate, serious issue altogether) but if these drivers truly valued privacy like they say they do, they would not be living in Monaco. We all know they just want those tax benefits lol.

I've been very honoured to recieve a few comments suggesting I should do film reviews. I've got a couple written already so please tell me if you like it and If i should carry on. Basically any comment at all. So on with the show...

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A MONSTER' PIECE!

The film Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1994) was an interesting take upon one of my favourite books. Kenneth Branagh both directed and stared with Robert De Nero reinventing the creature for another time in the cinematic laboratory that horror calls upon so often.

This is one of my favourite Branagh films. Quite different from Thor (2011) or Peters Friends (1992) but quite refreshing to take a step into the shadow while holding Kenneth's hand.

You'll see no neck bolts in this production! Thankfully taking a step away from Boris Karloff's historic take in the monsters boots in the famous 1931 production. Slightly less of the pure madness running though Colin Clive's Victor and more controlled obsession. Less groaning from De Nero than in 1931, taking a fresher approach to Shelley's novel as opposed to falling in the bear trap that so many other productions have in the 'monster rally' of the 50's to 70's during the horror revolution.

Victor Frankenstein is one of my favourite literary characters! A wild, detached idealist with a head full of ideas but not the heart to think it though. Sadly I was left somewhat disappointed with Kenneth Branaghs portrayal. He pulls him across as a headstrong young physician with romantical ideas of life, he is playful and quite the lover with his dear Elizabeth. I found some parts overly sexual that nessessary as I have alwas imagined his to be more asexual that how he is portrayed in this. Although he is a wonderful character by itself, I just felt it was not the Victor I have grown up with. Aspects of his personality clash and he is written to be too much at once. Both having a fun personality and detached from people? Playful and carefree whilst being overly goal focused with his sick obsessions? It was all a bit too much for me. I mentally compared it to how the BBC television show Blackadder was written in the first series. With him being cowardly and brave. Just too much for one character to be.

Another point I was left in wanting for was the mountain scene on Mount Blanc. This is one of the pinnacle scenes in the novel, the second meeting of creator and created, where the tables have turned and we are in the land of the beast. Visually it was quite delicious but the actual substance was not there. I just made me feel that Branagh was just give special effects and he had to slot them in somehow. Your reminded just how 90's this film is (no other decade of films is quite like it). This is a very serious and powerful moment for the story but it is almost humorous as Victor and the creature japer in the snow and toboggan into the ice cave. Quite disappointing.

My last bad point (it's not all doom and gloom I promise! But lets get It over with) is the transitions. Characters, time and emotions are all over the place! We've already talked about Victor's bipolar so lets discuss his monster. The thing that I like about the creature is that he is childlike to begin with, born in a artificial metal womb with his mother being a body snatcher with grand ideas. But in this film he's just not in the states of maturing for the right periods of time. As a babe literally in his father/mothers arms took too long and this scene became uncomfortable to watch - then as a innocent child blankly wondering the streets of Ingolstadt, he just resorts to violence far too quickly for my liking. The point is that he is corrupted by human influence and not born the deadly monster title he is branded with. A trick was missed there!

The best point of the film for me was Helena Bonham Carter's portrayal of Elizabeth. She found everything I saw in Elizabeth and exploited them to their full potential. Making her a delight to watch in Elizabeth. The character of Elizabeth is meant to be what Victor lacks in his psyche but seeing as Branagh put double helpings for Victor, the two actors inadvertently competed as they tried to play their roles. When Elizabeth, now the bride of the monster, explores what she has become, it is enough of a reason to watch the film on its own! The cinematography should go down in history as she races, confused and frightened down the corridors of their home in flames. The one bit that ruined that scene was that even when on fire, her dress remains intact as the flames lick her fuel covered clothing. I felt that if her dress were to have burnt, although not very PG, her lack of clothing could have represented her rejection of Victors intervention with fate. Her fate. Going back to a purity only is achieved in birth and death.

The makeup, set design and costume! The creations (De Nero and Carter's) make up are perfect. Crude stitches and multi skin tones have a wonderful home-made quality to them. Helping the realism of the film as you have to remember, they are the remnants of thieves, murders and victims stolen and sown together. The character of Kremp says it best with "How was it pieced together? Bits of thieves? Bits of murderers? Evil stitched to evil stitched to evil." This really applies to the work of the make-up artists.

The creature's coat, previously Victor's, is very powerful and perfectly fits the characters. I've had the privilege to see this coat at a Film Exhibition and just It alone invokes feelings of fog laydened mountains in Geneva. Costume is always important in Frankenstein, especially the coat as it is the only window into information of his creator and the dynamics of his 'birth'.

The moral of this story is how far to take the knowledge we gather. Mary Shelley wrote this as a response to the huge progression in medical science at the time. In the end of the film, during the prayer at the funeral of Victor, how knowledge can destroy. This story is then still relevant in today's climate, with ethics being the only restraint to points such as cloning. It is almost scary how accurate her dramatic plot could be in the future. What point humans will draw the line in the preservation of life. Or even if that line will ever be drawn.