The Love Witch

This is the story of a beautiful witch called Elaine, well played by Samantha Robinson, who uses spells to get men to fall in love with her but every time she finds one it ends tragically. Fantastic use of colour here, in particular reds, pinks and blues. It is also an homage to the style of the films from the 1960's of the likes of Hitchcock. Plus it does serve as an interesting insight to the world of witchcraft for those who are not learned in the topic, in particular wicca or white magic.And it has plenty of nudity. However, after an engaging first hour the second hour is unnecessarily long and sadly lets the film down.

I was expecting something crazy and wild, but it was just OK. It should have been ar least 30 minutes shorter because by the end I was losing interest.

The movie looks great and the "bad" 60s acting is fun to watch.

It's just too long, that's all.

I dont think i would ever expect to see a movie made in 2016 to feel like it was shot in the 60s. Even the quality of the movie felt like i was watching a movie from 40 50 years ago. I don't know a lot about witchtcraft and i've never been really interested in that but i really loved the atmosphere and the visuality of the film. The cafe where they went to drink tea was my favorite location for sure, it was like a fairy tale. I think there was a lot of remarks about feminism. If i look at the story of the film i couldn't really get Elaine's story and the movie didn't really get to the point. I couldn't figure out Elaine's emotions towards the men she was with especially to Wayne. And the scene with her and Wayne in his house was unnecessarily long. But overall it was visually satisfying. I wont recommend people to watch it for the plot tho. The acting was not so great either except the british girl. But afterall you watch b-movies for their weirdness,right?

I fully appreciate the *look* of this movie, for starters. It's got the sheen of a late-60s/early-70s thriller mashed with an Italian giallo, minus all the blood and gore. It's very fab. And the performances, particularly by lead Samantha Robinson, are fantastic. Even the makeup deserves quite a bit of praise, it's so on point. Everything seems to be in place and just so, except for the plot. The surreal air that envelops the proceedings masks a fairly pedestrian plot, that of a witch who cast spells in order to find her true love, with the help of her cult, er, fellow witches, some of whom are routinely naked. Like I said, the movie has all the feel of a period piece, but there just isn't much there, and after a while the viewer may become as bored as I did. Which is unfortunate, given the level of effort and talent.

It´s been said, "The Love Witch" is technically brilliant. The imitation of older genre films is perfect. It´s not only the visuals, the scenery or the costumes, the sound design is just as good and every single character seems to be taken from another era. Even transitions from scene to scene are excellent. Anna Biller has a complete understanding of the movies she wants to emulate. It´s almost witchcraft.

From a feminist standpoint, it isnt´t subtle. I´m not sure if it should be taken entirely serious. I find it deceitully simple, though, and quite clever but it does at times seem taken from another era as well. The truth is i don´t get it completely. This film, feminist or not, is certainly feminine. The most feminine film I´ve ever seen. It´s a woman´s art, a woman´s idea, a woman´s everything. It´s absolutely drowning in estrogen.

The question is, if "The Love Witch" was actually a late 60s film would it be any good? I have no idea but I´m guessing it´s irrelevant. Revivalism is a crucial element. It uses older esthetics to prove a point now. The comedy works better in a 21st century context. It might be too long and slow, I´d recommend watching it in the morning, not a popular time to watch movies but a lot films work better that way, and this is definitely one of them.