Lovesusti The Worst Film Ever

SnoReptilePlenty Memorable, crazy movie

Executscan Expected more

Taha Avalos The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

groggo Alex van Warmerdam is a wickedly mischievous director who seems to specialize in the theatre of the disconnected, which is appropriate. Disconnection is a prime motif in society. Most things we do, see and say every day don't make much sense.Aside from writing and directing, Warmerdam is also a wonderful actor given to playing overwhelmed characters who are never really sure why they're alive. In one of his previous films (the unsettling 'Little Tony'), he directed himself as a stone-faced, harassed and bewildered farmer beset by a brutish wife determined to have a child at any cost. It was way off-kilter in its darkly comic exposition. In 'Grimm,' this iconoclastic Dutchman takes us on a disjointed, other-worldly ride that lacks a traditional narrative arc. But this 'journey' has so many interesting (and inventive) comedic and dramatic riffs that you can't help but be drawn into it. It is never dull because we simply don't know what's going to happen next, up to and including a nomadic donkey, an involuntary kidney transplant, and an absurd showdown in a Spanish ghost town between a guy with a shotgun and another with a bow and arrow. This film is quirky and fresh, and keeps you off balance. Aside from unexpected bursts of gallows comedy, it can also be dark, with malicious and disturbing set pieces. Warmerdam shows us brilliant cinematic contrasts between the gloom of the Netherlands forests and the blaring brightness of the Spanish countryside. The dichotomy between light and dark is very evident in this film and very evident in Warmerdam's predilection for dark/light humour and quasi-surreal drama.Throughout the film, Warmerdam reminds us that this is a modern fairy tale (hence the Grimm title). Things don't naturally follow, characters are 'transported' illogically, relationships just magically happen, and epiphanies abound. Halina Reijn as Maria and Jacob Derwig as her brother Jacob are terrific playing siblings involved in a lovingly incestuous relationship that is so casual it never really speaks its name. This is Warmerdam at his mischievous and satirical best: haven't we, with our overactive, dirty little minds, always suspected there might have been more to the Hansel and Gretel story than two lost kids courting danger in the forest? Incest, of course, is taboo, and you would never see it in a Hollywood flick unless it was done as high drama or tragedy. But Maria and Jacob really do love each other in the true sense of love. In the Netherlands, the mind is a bit more expansive.

daliso_leslie This film has a rather impressive billing, with the version I rented stated "siblings Jacob and Marie embark on a surreal, often night-marrish odyssey." The movie starts out Hansel and Gretel-esquire in that regard, but doesn't move much further. There is a journey to be had, if one is interested in following two characters whom they know little about through different cities where they meet different people. The meetings have very little value to them, however, and the characters often meet conflict that is unexplained. Furthermore, movement between locales is poorly motivated and a unified agenda never sets imposes itself. If these meetings were accompanied by the surrealism that the movie billing suggests, I could have still walked away happily, but unfortunately the surrealism in the meetings is itself limited because much of what could have made a scene eerie is left unaddressed. As far as the comedy, the movie fails to win stars in that department as well. There are two or three hilarious encounters, but most of the comedy is a sort of "why would anybody do that" type of humor. Suits some, obviously. On the whole, the film is built for people with short memory spans, as segments really don't have any connection to each other. This fact is acceptable for the first 40 minutes, but by the 41st, you will certainly ask yourself why you are still watching, hoping that something relevant will occur.I cannot totally smash the movie, however, as the colors were quite vibrant and the journey itself is something that certain watchers might find interesting in its own right. Also, it must be said that Halina Reijn, the lead female, is exciting to watch. Her facial expressions, her candor in front of camera. Of course, she's beautiful. I should also mention that a greater understanding of the Brothers Grimm and their folk tales might lend itself to a greater appreciation of the film. It was clear that this was the case with the 2005 Matt Damon film, but with this one, it is less obvious whether a greater understanding of the tales would make Grimm better.If you're going to watch it, make sure you school yourself on the back story (the Brother's Grimm tales).

Deoglood I love foreign films, really. When actors can perform in their native language, it seems to draw me into the plot all the more. However in this case, it doesn't help. There are a few good, humorous aspects in this film, and a ton of potential, but right up to the credits I found myself waiting for the plot to wrap itself up or conclude. I cannot tell you how much I regret watching this film. The camera work was good, the acting was good, and even the concepts seemed very good, but too much was covered without really hitting my sweet spots. How can it be so promising without delivering? But the real bummer for this movie was the flavor throughout. It was like watching a really long episode of Seinfeld. Can anyone be so without common sense and not accidentally drown during a rainfall? The two protagonists are dumb as sticks, and it was actually worse than watching a teen-horror flick where the blond bimbo decides to leave the relatively safe locked room and wanders aimlessly through the axe-murderer-saturated woods. At least there was suspense. Please somebody help me forget this movie, I've be negatively influenced by it and have forgotten how to eat with forks and knives.

Ari Sheinwald Yet another stab at making a contemporary adult (as in intended audience not porn) version of the Grimm brothers' fairy tales. Past efforts have gone in two directions - a focus on the psychosexual dimensions as in Neil Jordan's IN THE COMPANY OF WOLVES or emphasize the trashy, lurid aspects as in Matthew Bright's FREEWAY. Or do both like in Francois Ozon's LES AMANTS CRIMINELS. GRIMM hints at both but ends up going in neither. It's just way too restrained for its own good. Weird but not strange enough, dark but not dark enough, lurid but not lurid enough, the film ends up being pointless and tedious. Opening with clear Grimm Bros inspiration as our two protagonists are abandoned in the woods by their father, the film quickly abandons its early premise (as well as its promise) and loses any focus as they arrive in Spain. A sure sign of a problem is the best thing I can say about the film is its inspired choice of a set - the use of an abandoned Wild West ghost town leftover from Spaghetti Westerns.