Liza soars further than Lisa
I watched “Lisa Frankenstein” for Liza Soberano. I was curious about her Hollywood debut. Thankfully, Liza and her character Taffy were a delight and they were the best part of the movie.
It’s a win for Liza, but it is far from Academy Award winning Diablo Cody’s finest hour as a writer. Incidentally, the director, Zelda Williams, is the daughter of the late, beloved comedian Robin Williams and Marsha Garces Williams.
“Lisa Frankenstein” is set in 1989. It’s about how a nerdy outsider, Lisa Swallows (Kathryn Newton from Marvel’s “Ant-Man” franchise), reanimates a 150-yearold corpse from a grave at the Bachelors Grove Cemetery.
With the help of showers and a tanning bed, The Creature (“Riverdale’s” Cole Sprouse) evolves from being a walking slab of mud to a cheap, slurring, grunting, shambling knock off of Tim Burton’s Sweeney Todd. I happened to attend a screening where the girl beside me was terribly in love with Sprouse. She kept saying “Shet, ang pogi” each time more mud got washed off and you could more of see his face. “Magpagupit ka na!” after he cleaned up a little more. She also exclaimed: “Cute nila.” “Tanga, shet.” “Oh my god, hinila paa.” “Yun ang next victim!” to no one in particular.
I have to say though, if he was buried in 1837, all the flesh and meat would have been eaten or wasted away and The Creature should just be bones.
Normally, I’d root for the nerdy, goth outsider over the cheerleader, but Soberano’s Taffy ends up being rather endearing. The titular character ends up being a shallower person than she was at the start.
She went from cute nerdy goth to an annoying teen wearing black lipstick and attitude — she actually ended up taking on the look of a girl who bullies her.
The movie has a lot of cliches and borrows from “Warm Bodies,” “Encino Man” and “Weird Science.” There’s also a GlindaElphaba/Enid-Wednesday angle to the relationship between Taffy and Lisa but the movie ends up dropping the ball on that.
Regarding Soberano, the movie’s press release says the production “wanted an actress who could deliver many of the film’s most blunt, cringe-worthy lines without a hint of provocation or malice.” Director William’s says Liza/Taffy is “most people’s favorite part of the movie;” Cody says Taffy is her favorite character.
That said, if Carla Gugino who plays Taffy’s mom was in this longer, she would steal the show.
“Lisa Frankenstein” is classified as a horror/comedy. For something truly smart, wicked, disturbing, dark and funny for the season, Emerald Fennel’s “Saltburn” (which I wrote about last week) buries this one. In terms of graveyard scenes alone, there’s no contest.
On that note, here’s hoping for another good break for Liza Soberano.