This week on Forgotten Cinema: Now Showing, the Mikes take a look at "The Bride", Maggie Gyllenhaal’s ambitious and visually striking monster film.

Mike Butler comes away disappointed. While he believes the movie is phenomenally acted, beautifully designed, and impressively directed, the script simply does not work for him. The story feels unfocused, struggling to decide what it wants to be or what it wants to say. As Gyllenhaal’s first big-budget film, it is a strong showcase for her talents behind the camera, but Butler feels the screenplay ultimately lets the entire project down.

That said, there is still a lot to admire. Jessie Buckley delivers an incredible performance as the Bride, Christian Bale is fantastic as “Frank,” and the film closes with the best end credit song in recent memory.

Mike Field had a similar reaction walking out of the theater, but after sitting with it for a day he found himself warming up to the film. Not because he disagrees with the criticisms of the script, but because he appreciates how different the movie is from most modern blockbuster fare. That leads to the bigger question the Mikes explore in this episode. Is being different enough to make a film good?

Ambitious, strange, and deeply divisive, "The Bride" is a film that sparks a lot of discussion even if it does not fully come together.

What did you think of The Bride? Let us know in the comments!

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