A marvelously strange film from Estonian writer-director Rainer Sarnet, November uses ancient folk tales from the region to deconstruct a love triangle that turns the familiar into something shockingly unexpected. Its both gravely serious and a demonically funny, a blend meant to catch audiences off balance. Mission accomplished.
Based on an Estonian bestseller by Andrus Kivirhk, this ravishing movie tells the story of Liina (Rea Lest), a young village girl; she pines for Hans (Jrgen Liik), a peasant who yearns for a visiting German baroness (Jette Loona Hermanis) far above his rural, 19th-century station. Liinas money-hungry father has promised her to an old-fart farmer who repulses her. To make matter worse, the village is beset by plague, which takes the form of a woman who can end dreams in an instant. (Some advice: The epidemic might not get you if you take off your pants and wear them on your head.)
When stuck between a rock and a hard place, these folks have the option of making a deal with the Devil. For the price of a soul, the Prince of Darkness will animate your kratt a whatsit that can be made of farm tools, animal parts, human hair, snow or whatevers handy. Once on the move, though, watch out for all kinds of mystical mischief, including excluding murder. (These things hate to be bored.) Liina, who may be a werewolf, visits a witch to help her nab Hans. And her beloved sneaks around at night watching the Baroness sleepwalk in the moonlight. The problem is that not even a possessed kratt can bestow love, the one thing immune to human or satanic manipulation.
Peter Travers' Oscar Picks and Predictions for 2018How Americana Went Mainstream in the 2010sWhy Adam Sandler's 'Thanksgiving Song' Is a Holiday Classic
Poetic images are abound, monochromatic and mesmerizing, and without sentimental crutches that usually
accompany ghost stories. Everything feels
freshly observed, offbeat in ways that make us see the past through eyes that
are woke. (As for your eyes, theyll pop at the sight of the
black-and-white visual miracles performed by director of photography Mart
Taniel.) Christian traditions go head to head with pagan rituals, self-gratification
battles selflessness and love unrequited may be better than no love at
all. Set to a score by Polish musician
Jacaszek, who knows how to use an electric guitar to fry your nerves, November is complex, confounding, surreal and all-out sensational. Itll put a spell on you.
Posting Komentar
Posting Komentar