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O zivej vode (1988)
Stylish and atmospheric, but slow & cryptic fairy-tale
This is a 1988 co-production between Czechoslovakia and West Germany, adapting one of the arguably somewhat lesser known stories from the collection by the Brothers Grimm.
One after the other, three princes set out on a quest to find and bring back the fabled "Water of Life" to save their father and the kingdom. The youngest son is more virtuous than his brothers and manages to pass various trials on the journey. The film follows the source material relatively closely, but adds a few touches of its own here and there.
The best and most characteristic thing about this movie version is its art direction and look. In contrast to most other fairy-tale movies of East-European and/or German origin of the era between the 50s and the 80s, with their very classic and often a bit kitschy approach regarding sets, decorations and costumes, this one dares to try something different.
Color plays a big role throughout - the home kingdom of our protagonist is associated with many shades of red, for example reflected in both the floor of the throne room, the king's bed, and most notably the costumes of the royal family, though the latter change symbolically (without an in-universe explanation) with the plot to purple and blue. In this regard, it reminded me of Yimou Zhang's movie "Hero" (2002) with Jet Li.
Furthermore, everything looks rough and ragged, the castle dusty and ruined, and the décor kind of basic, instead of everything being shiny, clean, new and full of stuff. You won't find sparkling golden crowns here, it's all a bit more medieval Mad Max, the nature and the elements slowly reclaiming remnants of civilization.
Special effects are rather rare - don't expect something comparable to a Hollywood level budget - but the features mentioned above combined with some beautiful landscape shots and nice music make for a very dreamy, even almost surrealistic feel and viewing experience. One of the small highlights for me was the flooded castle of the Queen's kingdom with the Water of Life. Since it too is obviously a real building somewhere and not a set made for the movie, I still wonder how they accomplished this.
There are some issues, however. The dialogue is extremely sparse, even for fairy-tale films, to the point of possibly leading to confusion for everyone not at all familiar with this old folklore story. Multiple important plot points and intentions are not made clear enough, and while it may add to the otherworldly arthouse style also for the narrative, I feel like a bit of exposition at various stages would have greatly helped. While you can easily follow the main plot from beginning to end, too much is left open for interpretation regarding the details. The characters do not seem very clearly defined - the king being the sole possible exception.
Another problem is the pacing. The movie is about 90 minutes long, but measured by the actual story content, it should have been 75 minutes tops. Some scenes drag on slightly too long, resulting in a slow pace. Considering that our hero is just walking around for most of the runtime, and that we cut back to his brothers or his home with the old king a number of times, audience members not appreciating the aesthetic side of things in this may get bored fast.
Overall, worth watching if you like fantasy and old fairy-tale movies and want something a bit different than usual. Sadly, the home video release is nowhere to be found these days (there is a DVD cover uploaded to the IMDb page). I've seen the film about a decade ago on TV for the first time, and despite its flaws and shortcomings, it must have left an impression because I did remember it well. Like similar genre works of this time period (Die Prinzessin und der fliegende Schuster 1987, Die Sieben Raben 1993, König Drosselbart 1984, and so on), it could really profit from a proper blu-ray release in HD.
Locke & Key (2020)
Intriguing concept dragged down by annoying characters and weak writing
The main idea in this graphic novel adaptation is great: An old mysterious mansion, magical keys with very different abilities, teens and kids discovering family secrets and the baggage of the previous generation after a tragedy, while having to deal with school and the usual coming-of-age stuff, as well as some evil presence lurking in the shadows and making life hard for them...
That being said, I was somewhat underwhelmed by the first season. I'm always looking for characters that make you care, protagonists you really want to succeed. That is what often creates drama in the first place, because it makes the setbacks and the progress count so much more. Yet in this series, the central characters are either annoying as hell - like Bode, the youngest one, who embodies some of the most irritating but typical movie kid characteristics, or his siblings Tyler and Kinsey, who make some pretty nasty decisions throughout, yet they won't ever really feel sorry or redeem themselves.
All three of them are strangely naive. I don't want perfect characters - sure, little flaws can make them interesting. But this show is taking things a bit too far, to the point where they become rather unlikeable in my book. The mother not being able to remember anything gets old really quick, too. Furthermore, the constant pop culture references are embarrassing.
However, I was even more disappointed by the rare use of the keys themselves. I get that a first season is supposed to do all the heavy-lifting with the world building and exposition, and in that regard, it does a decent job. But we only get to see a few small glimpses of the magic that could be. The teens aren't really exploring the possibilities at all (or if so, only in an irresponsible way), sometimes not even thinking about them. In a situation of danger, some of the keys could easily help the protagonists, but suddenly, some of these powerful items aren't even mentioned anymore, let alone used.
It's just one of many cases of lazy, convenient writing to be found here. Other instances, which don't directly have anything to do with the supernatural elements, require a crazy amount of suspension of disbelief (police investigations about a not-so apparent presumed suicide for example, or nobody actually knowing the simple reason why the infamous tidal cave of the town is dangerous - not even warning signs put up there!). To top it all off, the ending of the season may give a couple of answers but basically resolves nothing (quite on the contrary) and leaves the audience hanging. Very unsatisfying.
All this is a huge shame because the sets are beautiful, creative and atmospheric, the acting mostly isn't too shabby either, the music and the effects are good, there are some dark twists and turns which are awesome at least on paper, and like I mentioned above, the ideas with the keys is a solid one. But the first ten episodes are merely scratching the surface of the potential at hand, resulting in a barely above average series. I'm not sure I will continue watching this show once the second season hits. Maybe if they hire better writers.
Terminator: Dark Fate (2019)
Decent but derivative continuation
A solid flick. Way better than Genisys (which wasn't hard to accomplish), but still miles away from the class of the first two movies. Mainly because many things in it felt so derivative, since we've seen similar characters, environments, and situations multiple times before.
They are changing up the backstory with a big twist that happens right in the first few minutes. I'm still not sure how to feel about this, because on the one hand, it broadens the universe up a bit and leaves the door open for more, but on the other hand, it's definitively leaving behind some well developed previous lore and accomplishments of the other movies. This new Terminator future is at least requiring getting used to.
However, I loved a couple of things they did with the characters. Mackenzie Davis was awesome as super soldier Grace, and Linda Hamilton as grumpy old Sarah was much more fun and bad-assery than I expected. Albeit short on screentime, the surprising standout for me though was what they did with Arnold's character. Best use of him since T2 for sure, complete with a little arc. Natalia Reyes was okay, but I wished she left more of an impression acting-wise.
The streamlined storyline - one big chase again from start to finish - works well for the most part. I just hoped the movie would offer more fresh ideas than just a couple of new characters and changes in the background. It isn't adding much to the franchise overall, not enough to make it relevant again. Dark Fate was entertaining though, including some nice action scenes and heartfelt moments.
90 Grad Nord (2015)
Dark, surreal horror comedy
This is a disturbing yet fun 20 minute horror short about an anthropophagic traffic island. Genius! We had a variety of bizarre and grotesque genre-monstrosities over the years, but killer traffic lights are new and truly original xD A businessman is stuck somewhere right out in the sticks at the edge of a forest, hears strange screams from afar, traverses the woods and reaches a mysterious pedestrian crossing in the middle of it, where he is stranded for the time being. If he wants to survive and not end up as the next victim of the diabolical machine with its insatiable hunger, he has to be clever and come up with ideas, since the beast has some perfidious tricks up its sleeve.
The story and especially the sometimes exaggerated, drastic depiction is actually genuinely disturbing and unsettling, but at the same time the whole concept is so surreal and still close to everyday life, that you can't help but to scream out some appalled laughs and want to know how it ends.
Also, this is more than just superficial entertainment, it rather explores our belief in systems in general and plays amusingly with the familiar foible of Germans to not jaywalk, even if there is far and wide no car to be seen ^^ We watched "90 Grad Nord" as a supporting programme film in our small university cinema for Halloween, and the audience was thrilled. If you get the chance to see this strange little gem somewhere, take the opportunity - it's worth it!