Good morning 🐣

Your eyes do not deceive you.

This amazing poster and the recently released trailer are for a very real movie coming February 24. It either hits you right in the gut or it hits you right in the gut.

Inspired by the 1985 true story of a drug runner’s plane crash, missing cocaine, and the black bear that ate it, this wild thriller finds an oddball group of cops, criminals, tourists and teens converging in a Georgia forest where a 500-pound apex predator has ingested a staggering amount of cocaine and gone on a coke-fueled rampage for more blow… and blood.

This is Spectacle. This is Drama. This is Cinema.

Actress Elizabeth Banks has quite a varied directing career: “Pitch Perfect 2,” 2019’s “Charlie’s Angels,” and now… “Cocaine Bear,” a new horror-comedy starring Keri Russell and the late Ray Liotta that takes inspiration from the likes of Sam Raimi, John Carpenter, “Stand By Me,” and “Jaws.”

Regarding one particular chase scene that appears in the trailer, Banks wanted to make a “mini Fast and Furious, but one of the cars is a bear.” She understands the ridiculousness of the concept, but also says it only reflects the ridiculousness of the war on drugs that got us here, saying:

It’s in the fabric of the movie, the ridiculousness of a bear high on cocaine because of the war on drugs forcing somebody to drop drugs out of an airplane. It’s f****** nuts. And as I said at the beginning, this felt a little bit like the bear’s revenge story because the bear became collateral damage in that failed war.

And if you want to see the real Cocaine Bear in person, “Pablo EskoBear” was taxidermied and put on display at the Kentucky Fun Mall. Wild.

A brief intermission 🍿

Artist and photographer Jack Long built his own custom fountain, about 30 inches in diameter, that produces concentric circles of vibrantly colored water. He writes, “The project is probably the most technically challenging endeavor I’d ever attempted and I think one of the most visually satisfying.” Check out this photo series, Mandalas, as well as other works on his site, Behance, and Instagram.

Now watch this 👀

Pinocchio seems to be having a moment: a live-action remake of Disney’s animated classic and now “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio,” a stop-motion animated retelling. Del Toro’s version was announced way back in 2008, but kept getting canceled until Netflix finally picked it up.

The movie’s an odd duck. Most people think of animation as merely for kids, but I think I’ve started making my argument clear over the course of this newsletter that this isn’t always the case. There are some animated films that deal with very mature subject matter. Even if they’re intended for a mix of children and adults, they can still treat their audiences with respect and grace. That said, “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio” is not something you’re used to seeing in a modern children’s film. It has grotesque character designs, frightening moments, questions about faith and religion, and (characteristic of del Toro’s filmography) a deep aversion to fascism.

Needless to say, it’s beautiful and everyone should see it.

None of this should be surprising, though. The original 1880s book, “The Adventures of Pinocchio” by Carlo Collodi, was written in the aftermath of Italy’s unification. A work of political satire, Anna Momigliano economically explains that the book is a “tale of a hungry child who cuts school.” It features poverty, assassins, a corrupt judicial system, and Pinocchio hanging from a noose. Momigliano further writes:

We can read Pinocchio’s arc as a defeated idealist’s acknowledgment that his vision failed and that the only thing to do is have pazienza—perhaps this is the way things are meant to be. If being a puppet represents uncontrolled rebelliousness, and becoming a real boy—actually “un ragazzino perbene,” a well-behaved kid, in Collodi’s words—means submitting to the social order of a modern nation, with all its hypocrisies and injustices, this would explain the bittersweet, slightly nostalgic tone of the novel’s conclusion: “How funny I was when I was a puppet! And how happy I am now to have become a good little kid!”

Set in WW2-era Italy, del Toro’s version paints Pinocchio as a sort of Frankenstein’s monster: the creator father-figure that rejects his creation, leaving it to learn what it means to be human all on its own. You’ll recognize most of the elements — the nose that grows when he tells a lie, the carnival ringmaster (voiced by Christoph Waltz), the cricket as conscience (Ewan McGregor), the sea monster — but there are twisted bits straight out of del Toro’s “Pan’s Labyrinth” and “The Devil’s Backbone.” When Geppetto first meets a living, breathing Pinocchio, the sequence is like a horror film. Rotting rabbits play cards in the underworld when they aren’t on duty as pallbearers. Tilda Swinton voices two Blue Fairies — the Wood Sprite and her Sphinx-like sister, Death — who are both covered in eyeballs. And Ron Perlman plays a government official who sends his own son and Pinocchio off to a fascist youth camp and ultimately war.

The songs, more folk than Broadway, match the hand-carved designs and animation, which are twisted and stretched against beautiful painted backdrops. David Bradley, Finn Wolfhard, Cate Blanchett, John Turturro, and Tim Blake Nelson round out the cast, who all disappear into their roles. While there’s melancholy and loss and horror, the film also has comedy and a warmth that really earns its ending. It’s one of del Toro’s best films.

Until next time! 👋

Note: We may receive a commission ​​when you purchase something using a link on this page. Thank you for supporting Cinescape.