Valley of Shadows

The highest reviews seem to come from those knowledgeable in Class, Gothic Norwegian Horror. Coming from a more American horror officialdom, this held my attention to the very end. At which point I decided I'm not a fan of classic, gothic Norwegian blah blah. It's slow, which can be great, but it turns out not to be here. Has a good ending, at least from a child's perspective. Captures the lonely, cold feeling of the unexploited Northern European forests and community. Cinematoagraphy , sound music and acting all done well. The "boy" seems to be overly directed. We never see him break out of his cautious, quiet pace ...Ever! Not very 11 year-old-like. But maybe that's gothic for you.

It actually is more like who ... but let's not get ahead of ourselves. Not that the pacing of the movie would have you in that mood. So if you like fast paced told stories, you might want to look somewhere else. But if you are into stories told slowly and soaking in the mood and the ambient and everything else, this is exactly for you.

Now the fantasy (or fairy?) element of it all is there, but it is quite dark. And while not every question will be answered (remember that and don't blame the movie for it), you will have a lot of tension and a kid that has to physically cross to the other side (analogies and all) - what will he find and will we be able to make sense of it? Well that is for you to discover and to draw your own conclusions ...

A slowly unfolding gothic mood piece about a young rural boy trying to come to grips with the disappearance of his older brother, his mother's despair & struggles, and a series of savage sheep maulings in his farming community. Low on dialogue, but full of mist, towering environmental symbols, mystery and omens, this quietly moving examination of childhood confusion and grief might have been more bluntly entitled, "Is My Brother a Werewolf?"!

It was Spotify, oddly enough, that suggested this film to me. This is because eighty percent of the music I listen to is instrumental film scores, and Zbigniew Preisner, who composed the music for this film, is one of my favorite composers.

The funny thing is that last year in Istanbul, at Aksanat, I saw a video art exhibition that included two short films by this film's director, Jonas Matzow Gulbrandsen. I didn't even bother to research the director's name, thinking he only directed short films.

Norway, and indeed all of Northern Europe, has always intrigued me. As if their isolation from the world wasn't enough, the climatic conditions force them to live in individual isolation, and the result of this, spanning thousands of years, is their imagination... their storytelling ability.

Because "Skyggenes dal" is so far removed from the narrative language that Western audiences are accustomed to, it has generally received poor reviews and low ratings from Western viewers, but it is one of the most successful works of the Scandinavian Gothic fable genre in recent times. Especially the music (not forgetting Lisa Gerrard), and of course, the young actor Adam Ekeli, who carries such a slow-moving film on his back at the age of six or so...

I am experiencing the joy of having discovered a bedside film after a long time...

Plot-heavy would not be a correct description of this moody, introspective piece by Norwegian first-time director Jonas Matzow Gulbrandsen. Although founded in a realistic universe and a Northern-European drama tradition, the film balances constantly and rather elegantly on the line to the supernatural, and Gulbrandsen's real trick here, and the film's best asset, is the way serious, grown-up matters are viewed through the eyes of the six year old lead-character. The filmmakers skilfully use the camera to take the big, scary world in through the eyes of the child, and demonstrate that we must all interpret, process and ultimately come to terms with events in our lives utilizing our own level of experience. In other words: Life must be lived by no other than yourself. It's relatable stuff for anyone who has been a child, even those who had forgotten how it was. Skyggenes dal is a slow-moving and in many ways uneventful film that may not catch the interest of everyone, but it's made with considerable amounts of thoughtfulness and flair by a clearly talented filmmaker. Worth a watch.