esrosedotblog

Today I returned to an old friend, well not so much a friend as a scary adversary.

Blancanieves (2012)

is the Grimm Brother's story of Snow White revisited.

I first met her in the Disney version and it scared the the hell out of me. Poison apples, cackling witches, pretty girls in a coma.

I think I was seven. They made me watch all the Disney things. I spent a lot of time behind the seat.

So, I revisited today with some trepidation.

This version, in Spanish, is first of all silent. There is wonderful music. Swelling symphonic music. Spanish guitars. Well not C&W.

Second of all, it is in black and white. Splendid, rich very finely rendered black and white.

Third it is based on a story of a matador and his daughter and his evil second wife who is the evil stepmother and, of course, it has dwarves.

It has ups and downs and happiness and sorrow.

It is still scary as shit. Bulls. Stepmothers. Apples.

I liked it and will probably have to argue about the ending as it is one of those hanging things which we so wish were not so but is like life.

That is not a spoiler unless you depend on happiness. None of these people are really happy happy. They are Spanish. And they are dwarves. And they are abandoned daughters.

I really couldn't watch it again but I am really glad I saw it once. It is luscious in all its cinematic glory.

So many times something like this is a stunt. The French The Artist was another breed of cat. An Academy Award winner. Also not a stunt.

This too was nominated as Best Foreign Film.

Perhaps we can look forward to some films that are so serious about how they are made and what the media is that movies can get nudged away from the superficial cgi driven spectacles they have become. Back to the basics.

Both films are powerful examples of what could be done.

A 3 out of Netflix5.

Labels: films