LEGION M INVESTOR BLOG WRITTEN BY: Jonathan McMahon

Last week I won the golden ticket and had the pleasure of attending the west coast premiere of Nacho Vigalondo’s Colossal in Los Angeles (Thanks Legion M!). The stars were out and the atmosphere was electric. You know, the way it’s charged when a kaiju materializes over a woefully unsuspecting Pacific Rim nation. The Legion M crew was there in their finery, exchanging sharp witticisms while members of the cast and crew were glad-handed by the media and excited well-wishers. After meeting up with old friends, putting faces to names, and meeting new people we all checked in and moved into the theater for the main event. 

Colossal lives up to the hype my fellow Legionaries. I'll try to keep this brief and relatively spoiler free, because, as with most films, I feel the less you know about it the better. That being said, this film is so nuanced that it's hard to convey how many ideas are packed into this dense narrative without trivializing it. Best of all, it manages to subvert the norms of every genre it tackles with a lot of heart and a refreshing irreverence. 

At its core Colossal is primarily a film about substance abuse, toxic relationships, and the physical and emotional tolls these things take on the people directly within your sphere of influence as well as the more macro effects on people who aren’t close to you. In this case, the latter point is made by the delightfully absurd allegory of a monstrous threat to Seoul, South Korea. 

Like most kaiju movies the majority of the story deals with human drama, while the more fantastic elements only appear on screen about ten percent of the time. The movie shifts in tone more than once, taking viewers on a journey through multiple genres such as magical realism, comedy, and melodrama that takes a very dark turn, before ending on a high note ;) (You’ll get it once you’ve seen the movie). 

The cast is great. Of course I knew Anne Hathaway, who was secretly pregnant during this shoot, has a remarkable range as an actor, but I was most pleasantly surprised to see Jason Sudeikis in a really gutsy role for him; he really knocks it out of the park. Dan Stevens plays Anne’s haplessly aloof ex-boyfriend, while perennial character actor, Tim Blake Nelson,  and Whiplash's Austin Stowell round out the cast with two excellent performances. How the creative team behind Colossal managed to get such a great cast seems like an amazing feat in itself because I can only imagine how crazy this all must have read on the page. 

After the film we made the short walk to the after party. Other members of the Legion mixed and mingled with the stars while I primarily stuffed my face with free food and took advantage of the open bar. All kidding aside, I did speak with many of the other guests, including members of the media and other film makers. I am happy to report that Legion M is beginning to make an impact of the industry. Judging by how many people approached us during the course of the evening, I see a bright future for us. If this film does well, I believe we can indeed twist away the gates of steel that has made Hollywood inaccessible to so many of us. 

So there you have it. Those are my general impressions of Colossal, the first major feature that our fledgling company is attached to. If you need me, I’ll be in the Legion M Forum being blown away by how far we’ve come in less than a year.

Onward and upward, my friends.