Grimm

In a loose adaptation of "Hansel and Gretel", Dutch siblings Jacob and Marie are abandoned by their parents and eventually make their way to Spain. In Spain, Marie marries surgeon Diego. Everything looks normal at first, but it becomes apparent that Diego might not be quite what he seems, especially after Jacob tries to drag Marie away from him.

What's really neat about "Grimm" is how it plays with the audience. After they leave the Netherlands, you think that the movie's important part has already happened, but you're wrong. Dead wrong. That door in Diego's house gives me the feeling that along with "Hansel and Gretel", there's also a tinge of "Bluebeard" here. And I wonder if that town at the end is the one where they filmed the spaghetti westerns. All in all, this is black comedy at its neatest.

This is about a passionate loving couple, being brother and sister. It is definitely incestous and rivals of different kinds are killed. It's absurd, it's a little Bunuel sometimes and mostly funny.

Probably this is supposed to be a modern Grimm tale, but including sex. There are no real human beings here, like in Grimm. Like Hansel and Gretl, the brother and sister are alone in the world, with no parents to lean on. They leave Holland and come to a strange dreamlike Spain, where they meet another brother and sister, evil and crazy.

There certainly are scenes here you will remember, but most of all you will remember the dark humour, which makes you laugh at totally wrong places.

On a winter's day a cold-hearted father abandons his son Jacob and daughter Maria in the woods, while they were off looking for firewood. After they can't find their father, Jacob finds a letter in his coat from his mother telling them to go Spain to live with their uncle. While on this journey they bump into some conniving people, also they commit some of devilish crimes and most of the time find themselves in some bizarre circumstances.

*Shrug Shoulders* Um… yeah. Well, that's what I felt after this film had finished. It just has some type of spell over you, because what you are seeing on screen is outrageously awkward, highly unpredictable and a striking amount of imagination. The story loosely takes on the Hansel and Gretel fairytale, but goes for a more grownup approach, which is filled with dark humour, incredibly odd adventures and like the title implies a grim nature. Even with all this imagination that went into it, there's something about it that left me undecided what to feel. It's hardly bad, as it had a hypnotic trance on me, but at the end I wasn't hugely impressed, as it seems to run out of steam after the half way mark. Which is a shame, as it had potential with its surreal setup and strange surprises but it becomes ponderously slow and the bizarre nature of it seems to fall by the way side in the third act. The plot… well, there really isn't one, because it's nothing but one comical episode after another and some don't make too much sense or add any real cohesion to proceedings. To make matters worse the characters, especially Jacob and Maria are glazed over and because of that they're hard to like or to connect with. But that doesn't take away from the overall performances, which I thought was generally good. Also other notables worked into the film is a lot of demented and deadpan humour, which either was an hit or a miss and also the sexual context was downright kinky. These generally bleak adventures the two encounter are highly out of the blue and hold a tremendous amount of impact, as the film bursts at the seams with a touch of fairytale magic. Other things that truly kept me glued were the slick cinematography that captured such ravishing scenery from woodlands, to desert terrains and an eerie ghost town. Backing up what we saw on screen was an impressive soundtrack that mixed a lot twang, from country, to rock and some indie. In all, weird… just plain weird!

A promising idea that's hypnotically enchanting, but it never reached the great heights like I wished it did.

At last we can see a movie that makes us Dutch folks laugh. It's based on a fairy tale of Grimm. It worth watching because I didn't see any better Dutch movie this year. Also I recommend De Noorderlingen en Kleine Teun.

As I continue to read more and more dedicated, intelligent graphic novels, I cannot help but think that perhaps director Alex van Warmerdam didn't read a couple prior to creating this film. From the opening sequences until the end of this film, you cannot help but feel a sense of whimsy, the fantastical, and enchantment. From our hopeless characters to the sporadic plot, Warmerdam has created a film in which the symbolic references and fairy tale connections isn't laid out in front of you, but instead deeply rooted within the chaos of Grimm for only those who are truly dedicated can find them. He buries them very deep within his work, but with some patience, a great eye, and a passion for the human genre element, you too will see the strength of Warmerdam's work. Grimm is not a masterpiece by far. In fact, it isn't one of the greatest films that I have seen, but it did burst from the seams with potential.

Warmerdam has quite the ability to build a very surreal world, place unknowing (and sometimes unwilling) characters into the mix, and give us bleak references to pop-children's culture. He shows us this with Grimm. For those of you die hard fairy tale fanatics, you may not like this story. It is not one that the average film viewer will enjoy. Grimm takes some time getting used to. It takes some time developing the characters, and it takes quite a bit of time giving us its story. It is never rushed (though sometimes we wish it were quicker), and eventually completes with a message of family, strength, and sibling love. Warmerdam does a great job of giving us two great navigators through his story with Jacob and Maria. Two completely different characters by nature, but both still have one passion in their eyes, to keep their friendship and family dynamic together. These two are the quintessential "Hansel & Gretel" as they voyage through the world of Spain to discover, not only themselves, but also how cruel the real world can be. While their interweaving stories could/should have been developed deeper with stronger bonds between them and the other characters in this film, Warmerdam has done a superb job of giving us their sole stories and emotions. If you solely watch just Jacob and Maria throughout this film, you will see such a strong human element and the sporadic events that occur to them as they continue their perilous journey. I applaud Warmerdam for his work on these two characters because they lead us through the story. We feel for them, we grow with them, we rally behind them near the end, so in essence, we enjoy these characters. Alas, his lacking story structure is the only hurdle that is tough to cross.

Warmerdam interweaves so many different fairy tale-esquire moments throughout the story that you begin to loose focus of the central themes. It reminded me of a third-grade story in which the young child forgot to do his homework and begins his report on "Hansel & Gretel" and inadvertently brings in moments from "Peter Pan", "Little Red Riding Hood", and "Jack & the Beanstalk" unknowingly. As the class laughs, you cannot help but think of how interesting a story like that would be. I think Warmerdam did his homework, brought several different childish stories together, but somehow never quite completed them. He would throw in segments of several different childhood genres that we, the audience, never had the opportunity to enjoy the one we were on. This is where Warmerdam lost me. I wanted to enjoy the different stories. I wanted to see how our not-so-young heroines would react to the different situations, but we never had that opportunity. He would begin a story, but never finish or at least create a strong enough segway to the next moment. Warmerdam had a great concept with this film, but never was able to pull his ideas together. Coupled with a horrible choice of music selection, Warmerdam never quite built the darkness surrounding Grimm. That is what ultimately hurt this picture.

Overall, Warmerdam did a decent job with overall final product of this film. Grimm is not a film for everyone, but for those that enjoy moments of David Lynch coupled with themes of childhood fairy tales. It is a dark story that never quite makes you laugh but instead attempts to use shocking cinematography to bring you this surreal world that we never quite believe exists. Warmerdam has created this mythological world that could be right in your backyard, but spooky enough to believe it came from your imagination. His characters were strong, but his story lacked decent connection. I found myself, like Jacob and Maria, lost during several of the scenes only to reconnect later during the film. I guess I just needed more breadcrumbs to guide me back…

Grade: **** out of *****