O Fio da Vida

I hadn't heard anything about this (Danish!) movie until a friend brought over a DVD he'd ordered from Thailand, of all places! (Available from www.ethaicd.com.) Four of us watched it and agreed that it was interesting, unique and original, but also rather dull. The story is a stereotypical (but very decent) fantasy fairy-tale, with the very interesting added element of the "stringed puppet reality". It worked very well, with a quite serious and emotional story a bit reminiscent of Gormenghast - all immensely well produced. But it wasn't engaging enough to maintain that much enthusiasm in the viewer. It was a bit too dark to be for children, and somewhat too, I dunno, uninvolving to be for grown-ups. I appreciate it as an honest, very competently produced fantasy movie with a detailed and good-looking but also quite crude and limited universe.

I do think it would be more engaging on the big screen than on a TV screen, because I was slightly bored through much of it. Granted, I was a bit tired when we watched it, and this is not a movie one should watch while tired. But it was a very interesting experience.

7 out of 10.

With an inherently traditional, however nearly perfectly executed plot, and a visual style that justly deserves the attributes "fantastic" and "mythical", Strings is a very singular experience. Be it the dark, allegorical story, the fleshed-out characters or the technical sophistication, the movie is a necessary viewing for fans of fantasy and animation movies.

Overall 7/10

My full review here: https://goo.gl/6uzPyr

For all those who say "I'm too old for puppet theater" I can only say "Think again".

The story might not be the most original (though it is leaps and bounds more complex and consistent than most of the actual blockbuster) but the directing and effects are simply beautiful.

The original part in the film is indeed that the puppets know of their strings and live and play with them. As another commenter says, the film does not try to hide the strings, but it does hide the puppeteers. Part of the mystery of the film is where the strings come from (and here you have several great shots and effects).

I can only recommend the film, but I doubt it will run in too many big cinemas (I saw it in the Edinburgh Filmhouse)...

I watched this movie at the Norwegian International Film Festival, and I was totally blown away. The atmosphere, world and characters this movie introduces you to feels so incredibly unique and extraordinary.

The most brilliant thing, however, is the fact that instead of editing out the strings, or pretending that they're not there, they use the strings as a sort of...lifeforce.. If somebody looses their head-string, they're dead. This simple fact made the world seem even more real, and suddenly made the puppets into something living.

If I had to say anything negative about this movie at all, it's the fact that since the mouths of the puppets aren't moving when they're talking it's a bit difficult to get into at first. I found myself confused in the beginning as to whom it was that was talking, but I guess this is just the nature of movies that use puppets like these.

I couldn't recommend this movie any stronger than I do. Pray that this gets a US distributor, because as of now it's not picked up.

The whole concept of strings interested me from the start, I'll admit i have a strange fascination with puppets anyway from somewhere unknown, i think probably Fraggle rock and that sort of thing which was re-established when i saw 'being john Malkovich' with the beautifully worked string puppets.

but anyway the whole concept of the strings being part of the puppet i found really enthralling, like they weren't quite in control of their own movements as we feel we aren't. the mystical scenes of the sky with strings in looked awesome.

the opening scene really captures your attention and you feel so much empathy towards the king that you forget he is a piece of wood and treat him as human from the start.

i was really intrigued with the explanations of birth and death and think they really added to make the universe seem believable.

on the whole the story was kind of predictable but in a classical fantasy way really worked in the new context. the design of all the surroundings was breathtaking, i think this would be great for kids also, despite the lack of happiness within the story