Poor Things, directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, written by Tony McNamara. Starring Emma Stone. Ireland/UK, 142 minutes, III. Opened Feb 29. (PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

There’s probably not enough space here to accurately describe just how clever and insightful Ning Hao’s The Movie Emperor and Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things truly are. Dancing on the fine line between absurdist humor and abject ridiculousness, Ning and Lanthimos deliver two of the most biting films in recent memory that, admittedly, are going to fall flatter than a pancake for many viewers. But for those who reveled in the zany critique and nihilism of Ning’s Crazy Stone and No Man’s Land, and the ultra-stylized examinations of social constructs in Lanthimos’ The Lobster and The Favourite, are going to want to make an effort to see both in the milieu they were crafted for. 

The less known about each film before letting them wash over you, the better. In Ning’s The Movie Emperor, massive Hong Kong movie star Lau Wai-chi (Andy Lau in a career-best performance) makes a desperate and entirely misguided stab at respectability after losing an award to “Jacky Chen”. Lau’s idea involves starring in a film about small-town peasants by Lin Hao (director Ning), missing the point, and finding himself canceled on social media. 

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Poor Things is a feminist spin on Frankenstein. Bella Baxter (Emma Stone) is reanimated by mad scientist Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe), only to be saddled with a childlike mind. But Bella grows and learns, and eventually goes on a quest to find herself — sexually, intellectually and morally.

The Movie Emperor is going to feel extremely insider-y. There is a great deal of film-industry-based comedy that could easily be lost on anyone not actively working in it, or not enough of a film buff to read news beyond box-office scores and reviews. That said, Lau is a big enough star in real life, and Ning is one of the Chinese mainland’s most noted exports, so anyone with even a passing knowledge of Hong Kong and mainland cinema will recognize both of them playing fast and loose with their own personae and poking fun at themselves. 

The Movie Emperor, directed by Ning Hao, written by Liu Xiaodan, Wang Ang, Daniel Yu. Starring Andy Lau. China, 125 minutes, IIA. Opened Feb 29. (PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

Emperor allows its narrative absurdities to build slowly. There are a few laugh-out-loud moments, but the wittiest observations are the quietest ones: Lau rearranging cutouts of rival actors before an interview, an army of PR staff pivoting on a dime to “control the narrative”, the subtle verbal jabs of Lau’s long-suffering assistant Lin Weiguo (Pal Sinn). The film also relies on our willingness to watch the vain, out-of-touch, selfish Lau dig himself into a hole so deep that he’s unlikely to crawl out of it.

Poor Things is perhaps the most intensely Lanthimos film of the Greek director’s career. The intentionally stilted dialogue, the super-wide angles, the pitch-black humor and blunt discussions of sex are all present and accounted for, but in a more heightened way than ever. It’s hard to convey just how rich the visual storytelling is, and how effective frequent Lanthimos cinematographer Robbie Ryan’s (I, Daniel Blake) meticulously composed frames, Holly Waddington’s breathtaking costumes and the year’s most evocative production design, by Shona Heath and James Price, are.

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None of that would matter were it not for Stone pulling off Bella’s march toward wisdom and agency with such aplomb. In every scene, she turns in a confident performance, rooted in ace comic timing and committed politics. 

She is supported by Mark Ruffalo as Bella’s shepherd into adulthood, Duncan Wedderburn, and Ramy Youssef as Godwin’s proper, slightly naive assistant Max McCandles.  Ruffalo, in particular, deserves extra credit, especially seeing that one wrong foot puts his performance in the wrong kind of camp.