re: The Brothers Grimm

Poststructural Pub
1

I saw this movie yesterday, and enjoyed it, and thought it was quite good.

The movie very deliberately had an “early film” feel to it–believe it or not, in this age where eye candy rules (and sometimes is all a movie really has to offer), the visuals were actually understated, though beautifully done.

This is a fairy tale movie–literally–and, judging from some of the reviews I’m reading on this film, a lot of folks don’t know how to enjoy a good fairy tale anymore, which is sad. This is not a historically accurate film, nor is it meant to be.

The movie throws you into the lives of the brothers, who are first-class con artists, and quickly gets interesting, when they encounter something outside their experience: they are thrown into a real fairy-tale, complete with a murderously evil queen (which character seemed to me to be based in part on Countess Elizabeth Bathory, who unfortunately was a real historical figure, a lunatic who drank and bathed in the blood of virgins in the belief that it would keep her forever young), a very lively forest where the trees get up and walk around, a werewolf, and a blood curse.

I don’t want to give anything away, but you do see many of the famous characters from the stories the real-life Grimm brothers collected appear in (or at least get a mention or two) in the movie–watching for those little “cameo appearances” added greatly to the fun of the film for me.

This is a movie where not everything gets explained. The logic is the logic of fairy tales, which is not a way of thinking many of us are familiar with anymore, a more Medieval perspective, where your village is the whole world and there just might be things in the forest that it doesn’t do for a man to think about.

I found this to be a wonderful movie. Should any of you happen to see it, and would like to add your thoughts and opinions here, please do so.

–James

Edited to add a P.S.: this movie does not treat the French very kindly at all. I would not be surprised if this movie never shows in France!!!

2

My wife and I saw it last night also. Being a big Terry Gilliam fan I had huge expections which were probably unrealistic. I liked it but never really got into the movie. The plot seemed a bit disjointed and I spent more time observing the movie rather than experiencing it, if that makes any sense. Not to say it was bad, but it wasn’t up to the best of Gilliam’s flicks.

I loved the look of it, except for the few CGI effects that were obviously CGI. And any movie with Jonathon Pryce in it is going to be worth seeing just for his scenes. Sadly he hasn’t had a lead role in years.

And Monica Bellucci, woof.

I think my wife lost it with the kitten scene. :slight_smile: Meow.

Edit. And we have Tideland</a](http://imdb.com/title/tt0410764/">Tideland</a)> coming out soon, so two Gilliam movies in one year. Yea.

3

I thought this was about the real brothers Grimm. I have a “Complete Brothers Grimm” that I read to my granddaughter. Heh Heh. No watered down Disney fairy tales for her by golly.

4

My 17 DS went to see it last night, and reports that it is well worth seeing and is behaving himself admirably and refusing to divulge any details.

Interestingly, he went as a “chaperone” for his best friend on his first real date… hehe…

5

Some people like to watch … :laughing:

djm

6

hmmm… I’ll hold that in reserve… just in case I ned to embarrass the heck out of one or the other of them… :laughing:

7

I haven’t seen it yet, but look forward to it. For another weird film (which I liked and recommend), see In the Company of Wolves. It’s been out in video for a number of years. Kind of a Little Red Riding Hood and werewolf thing. Great set design.
Tony

8

I haven’t seen the movie either (or even heard of the movie – I guess I’m really out of the loop.) But those Brothers’ Grimm certainly had a fitting last name. shudder I can remember being a little tyke and sitting on my mom’s lap late at night (generally, anytime after 8 p.m.) and listening to her tell about Hansel and Grettel throwing the witch into the oven, or the billy goats cutting open the troll and filling him with heavy stones then throwing him off the bridge, or the wolf getting hacked up by the woodsman after dining on Red’s grandmother. When you’re 2 or 3 years old these guys can make Freddie Krueger look like Fred Rogers. :astonished: I never let on to my mom that these stories scared the beejees out of me because I kind of enjoyed it while she told them. It was afterwards, in my dark room, that I would dream about the two legged wolf chasing me down the sidewalk toward the door of our house. I would run through the screen door and jumble with the latch, managing to barely get it locked at the same instant that the wolf grabbed the door’s handle. In a lot of the other dreams I was too scared to even move or talk. Now that I think about it, I’ll just skip this movie all together.

When my son was little, I told him the same stories. Only I made them humorous without all of the violence. The only trouble was that I could never remember the previous version and Michael was always pointing out the parts I omitted or changed from the original telling. It was a lot of fun that way too. He still kids me about some of the goofy endings I used to come up with. :slight_smile:

Will O’Ban

9

It certainly was a weird one. I went with 4 teens.
I found an appearance by the gingerbread man to be one of the strangest insertions, and yet there were frequently ironic bits of dialogue
and happenings that made me chuckle.
Actually, I found Lena Headey more interesting to look at than Monica Bellucci. Maybe I just prefer the gritty look.

10

Very few people seem to know, but there was another Brothers Grimm movie that came out when I was about 8 or 9 (hmm…1964, 65?)… all I can remember is a big ol’ shiny dragon.