POBRES CRIATURAS (POOR THINGS, USA, 2023) - The film explores themes of personal transformation and breaking free from societal constraints. Close-up shots capture Stone's expressive eyes and facial expressions, revealing her ability to access a deeper sense of humanity. Driven by a courageous and physically committed performance from Stone, the film follows her journey as Bella Baxter, at the start of the picture a barely verbal blank slate, who embarks on an autodidact voyage of discovery to become the ultimate self-made woman. Stone’s virtuoso use of her body – the way it inhabits space, the way she gradually masters her gangling, string-like limbs, the guilelessly open play of emotions in her face – is one of the most crucial elements in our experience of Bella’s journey. That journey is supported by a deliciously eccentric score by Jerskin Fendrix. An uneasy, detuned four-note motif played on flayed violin strings opens the film and returns in various incarnations throughout, sounding at one point like a hippo mating with a harmonium. The gradual build of intricacy and sophistication in the music brilliantly mirrors Bella’s intellectual growth.
