Monday, January 17, 2011

Grimm Movie Review


I would never consider myself a film critic, but I know what I like and I like the movie…Black Swan…in a weird way. Weird = good. Do you see why I’m not a film critic? My critique would be cryptic.

I don’t normally write movie reviews, but I can’t resist throwing in my two cents alongside Roger Ebert. Together we add up to almost a nickels worth of sense.

Roger Ebert: “A melodrama, told with passionate intensity, gloriously and darkly absurd.” 2 Thumbs Up.
KatOUT: “A dark movie to ruffle your feathers. Another feather in director Darren Aronofsky's cap." 2 Feathers Up.



The Black Swan is very dark, so it might not be for everyone. (Think anorexic, self-mutilating, psychotic, ballerina with feathers.) The title of the movie might throw one off, but please know it is not a tender-hearted children’s story for the faint-hearted. The movie is billed as a psychological thriller.

Soooooo….If you enjoy being psychologically disturbed by disturbing psychological thrillers…this Swan is for you.

Anywhooooooooooooo………………….

If you are familiar with the material of Aronofsky’s other movies…it would follow that the director experienced an overdose of fairy tales as a youngster. Fairy tales are full of violence and disfunction. You don’t have to dig very far to find many unsettling, graphically disturbing stories…just pick up a book of Brother’s Grimm fairy tales…and you’ll find……….


Cinderella (Grimm’s version): self-mutilation and deceit. The ugly stepsisters cut off parts of their feet in an effort to fit into the slipper and fool the prince.

Hansel and Gretel: child abandonment and cannibalism. Two young children are abandoned by their parents in a dark forest…and encounter a woman with cannibalistic intentions of child snacking.

Little Red Riding Hood: deceit, cross dressing, and violence. A wolf dressed as a Grandmother-what-big-teeth-you-have eats LRRH whole. A hunter cuts open the grandmother/wolf’s belly with a pair of scissors to free LRRH.

Such sweet stories of violence and despair…to read to your child just before they drift off to sleep.

******Light Bulb Moment: Now that I think about it…the scene with the rabbit boiling in the movie Fatal Attraction…must have evolved from the disturbing bedtime story about Peter Rabbit..........…

One rabbit was killed and cooked in a pie…the other rabbit was killed and cooked in a pot. One is from a children’s story…the other a psychological thriller.

………Both very Grimm in context………….

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