Since switching from LCD to OLED, I’ve become a fair bit obsessed with contrast and del Toro remains one of the best modern film markers for that. His use of lighting here, especially in the indoor scenes, reminded me of Barry Lyndon. And his contrast with snow was top notch.

Filmmaking aside, this was a great film. Taking del Toro’s penchant for fairy tale logic and gothic iconography and doing a reasonably faithful interpretation of Frankenstein - examining it not necessarily through the obvious modern framework of AI, but instead through generational trauma and the maternal aspect.

Oscar Isaac brought the right level of camp to the film, not over the top but emotionally understandable. And I had no idea that Jacob Elordi was my height. And some folks think representation doesn’t matter.