Blancanieves

The professional reviews for this were so ecstatic that I may have been a bit over-hyped, and felt a twinge of disappointment in seeing it, which is not to say I didn't enjoy it

Entertaining and beautifully made, this is another modern black & while silent film, this one an adult re-telling of the Snow White myth. There's no denying the technical virtuosity on display, and the ways that film-maker Berger finds to update the tale to Spain in the 1920s, center the story around bullfighting, and still stay true to the original story are clever and sometimes very amusing.

What was missing for me was a deeper layer of emotion, I appreciated and respected the film, but it was too much a fairy tale for me to believe in it, yet too real for me to be carried away into a fantasy. That said, it's good enough that I will gladly re-visit it.

Although The Artist, the first Best Picture winner I've agreed with in a long time, took the mainstream by storm of its silent film renaissance style, Blancanieves is a similar revivial, if not as self-referential, and is on par with The Artist. Silent cinema in the modern age feels like it offers a brand new way of expressive cinema and Blancanieves is oozing with expression. With textured black and white shots and energetic editing, it's a rush of raw inspiration, making full use of the frame. With such a timeless story, there's a risk of it being a complete retread, but Blancanieves tells it in such a refreshing and unpredictable way in which I was constantly looking for the famous plot points and then pleasantly surprised me when it's revealed which character is playing what role. It's a film with such a warmth for the characters and builds their relationships in a great archetypal way. With its great pace, it hits story beats efficiently and I was never bored and always caught off guard with its reinventions, with the bullfighting angle implemented seamlessly. The highlight is the fantastic score, which also rivals The Artist, with its variety of styles, the best parts being when it has flamenco influences. Blancanieves is a very entertaining and tragic rendition of a great story that avoids sentimentality all the way. Although it winds down a little in the last third where it's run out of steam too much to develop the seven dwarfs fairly, its highs are still strong. One of the best the year has to offer and rivals Disney's own Snow White.

9/10

I watched this film today at the Toronto International Film Festival. After many years of attending the festival, few if any films have made such an impact on me. Visually stunning, every scene shot in crisp black and white shouted out that colour is a mere distraction, a passing fad.

In a silent film, apart from the occasional inter-title, the visuals must tell the story, and in this case the filmmaker borrowed from the tropes of 1920s cinematic narrative, but added a more modern appreciation of human appetites and moralities. Much effort was made to reproduce the look and tone of classic silent film down to the 1.33:1 aspect ratio, but the current technologies used in production added an extra snap, crackle, and pop.

The story is Snow White, but set in the Seville of the 1920s: a girl, the daughter of a famous bullfighter, is raised by an evil stepmother. Instead of a mirror on the wall (though she has one of those, too) the stepmother relies on a fashion magazine to say who's the fairest of them all. A plot to kill the girl - now grown up - fails when she is rescued by a band of travelling bullfighting dwarfs who care for her until she's ready to fulfill her own destiny in the ring.

As befitting a fairy tale, the story is simple and direct, though there are shades of grey here and there in this black and white world of good and evil. But simple as it is, like the best children's stories, this one resonates at a deep level. And speaking of children, it can be debated whether any Grimm fairy tale is actually suitable for children. I would certainly not take a young child to see this one.

Have I mentioned the music? Anchoring the story to the setting, glorious Flamenco appears at key moments making the pulse quicken in time to the castanets.

Such a gorgeous film. I must see it again, if my heart can take it.

One of the latest fashions to appear during this new modern century-and it is a trend that is certainly celebrated by this German count- is the rescue from oblivion of the art of the silent film, an art that has been in eclipse since those new technologies of ancient times helped silent actors to .. tsk, tsk… speak.

Last year a good example of what this Herr Von is talking about was the premiere of Herr Michel Hazanavicius' "The Artist" (2011), a French homage to the Amerikan silent film industry and by extension to the Silent Era in general. This modern silent enjoyed considerable success and internationally good reviews.

"Blancanieves" ( Snow White ) (2012),a film directed by Herr Pablo Berger, is also a modern silent but, due to problems with financing such a bizarre film project, "The Artist" won the race to movie theaters. No doubt the two films will be compared in lengthy discussions complete with boring controversies which this Herr Von will leave to those interested in such trivial subjects.

"Blancanieves" is certainly a fascinating, mesmerizing, modern silent film, and is inspired by the famous German fairy tale collected by Brothers Grimm; Herr Berger transfers the story to Spain during the 20s of the last century.

The film is primarily influenced by European masters, notably German Expressionism, and is full of astonishing aesthetics and visual techniques and creates a magical and dark atmosphere that suits perfectly the strange and sad story wherein our heroine will suffer the abandonment by her father and the anger of a stepmother, all against a background of the world of bullfighting and its many peculiar characters. Herr Berger's film is not a simple tribute to the Silent Era but is original and modern, a bold update of silent pictures. It is no mere pastiche.

Deep Spain, namely the Andalucía region, is the setting and we have a star bullfighter who will die tragically, six dwarf toreadors in a travelling show, a wicked stepmother ( great Frau Maribel Verdú ) and a helpless heroine who is looking for protection and love ( what a sad ending, MEIN GOTT!! ), By a twist of fate, "Blancanieves" is the best Spanish silent film ever made.

And now, if you'll allow me, I must temporarily take my leave because this German Count must wave his cape in front of a dangerous Teutonic rich heiress.

Herr Graf Ferdinand Von Galitzien http://ferdinandvongalitzien.blogspot.com

Snow White and the Huntsman and Mirror Mirror were not the only two Snow White-inspired films of last year. Spanish cinema goers were treated to their very own version of the Brothers Grimm fairy tale that was directed by Pablo Berger who could have been inspired by the success of the French-American silent film, The Artist, as his version of the tale is also a silent one.

Shot in glorious black-and-white (as was The Artist), the film looks and feels like an actual film from the silent era. The simple style of Blancanieves hearkens back to the silent era of film and Berger has created a fanciful homage to those wonderful films of several yesteryears ago that have inspired countless filmmakers ever since.

Berger's unique vision of Snow White takes place in southern Spain in the 1920s and features actress Maribel Verdu (Pan's Labyrinth, Y Tu Mama Tambien) as this version's wicked stepmother. Verdu's Encarna loves her husband's fame and fortune (he is a paralyzed bullfighter whom she met in the hospital as his nurse) but loathes him and his daughter, Carmen. As the story goes, the young Carmen/Snow White (Macarena Garcia) flees the evil clutches of her mother and finds herself helped out along the way by a band of little people who travel the countryside and perform as a novelty act. Carmen finds a talent as a novelty, female bullfighter herself ... and her newfound fame attracts the attention and wrath of Encarna. And, well ... we know the story.

Berger has ingeniously and believable captured this tale in this setting ... and it all works. The over-the-top theatrics of the stars (over-emoting for lack of sound) is spot-on and there are no weak-links in this production. The sets and costumes are lavish. The blacks and whites are sumptuous and beautiful. By Berger choosing to incorporate some of the darker elements of a classic Grimm tale, he has made this version the most successful of last year's three Snow White re-tellings.

This is the fairest one of them all.