David O'ConnellGrimm
March 25th 2009 03:02
Using Hansel and Gretel, a Brothers Grimm tale, as his template and source of inspiration, Dutch writer-director Alex van Warmerdam has fashioned a modern updating of the medieval fable, injecting it with liberal doses of magic realism and the kind of black humour that Finnish autuer Aki Kaurismaki would be proud of.
Siblings Marie (Halina Reijn) and Jacob (Jacob Derwig) live in poverty with their parents on a remote, icy Dutch farmland. Lured into the forest by their father to search for firewood, they soon find themselves abandoned with only a note transcribed by their mother urging them to visit their uncle in Spain. In the meantime they're forced to kill a man’s hunting dog for food, leading to a savage repayment for Jacob – forced to sleep with the farmer’s homely, overweight wife to compensate for his own inability to perform marital duties!
Making an hilarious, absurdist getaway, they traverse thousands of miles in the blink of an eye, continuing out of the forest and into Spain where they somehow navigate a correct course to their intended destination, only to discover their uncle is long deceased. Soon they’re demeaning themselves, living in squalor and indulging in sexual misdeeds as a means of survival.
Their luck changes though for as Jacob slinks off to buy bread one day, Maria is mysteriously whisked away by a wealthy stranger, Diego (Carmelo Gomez), to his mansion, a hasty note left behind insisting that Jacob follow. Here, in the pastel grounds of a isolated Spanish villa - quite a contrast from the rugged, snowy terrain of the early scenes - further pieces of the Grimm fairytale fall into place, with jealously, lust, imprisonment and an ailing sister of Diego fitting the bill as a wicked witch.
Eschewing all sense of logic, van Warmerdam seems content to populate his tale with minimal characters, simply stirring the pot of unlikely ingredients to see what kind of potion he ends up with. At times aimless and senseless, Grimm finally blooms into an unreasonably entertaining concoction despite its lack of insight, subtext or purpose.
Leaps of faith are required to enjoy this oblique, occasionally facile 2003 retread of the original story. Making unlikely transitions in time and place seem like matter-of-course isn’t without its risks, but van Warmerdam’s laid-back approach with its loose and carefree sensibility seems to develop its own unique momentum after a while. Despite early reservations I found myself falling in step with it to some extent.
Reijn and Derwig are likeable leads as the confounded siblings, their relationship curiously given incestuous undertones in a few suggestive scenes as their journey wavers from icy mountain to balmy desert to what seems like the abandoned set of a spaghetti western, all aided by the inspired, eclectic score composed by the director himself.
Though it pretty much amounts to nought, Jacob and Marie’s colourful expedition isn’t without episodic, half-hearted peril, and with the aid of a donkey and a car stolen from a mute drunk (played by Kees Prins in the funniest scene of the film) they manage to come full circle, van Warmerdam’s striking final shot accentuating the fantastical division of the two worlds these hapless siblings have inhabited on their rambling misadventure.
Siblings Marie (Halina Reijn) and Jacob (Jacob Derwig) live in poverty with their parents on a remote, icy Dutch farmland. Lured into the forest by their father to search for firewood, they soon find themselves abandoned with only a note transcribed by their mother urging them to visit their uncle in Spain. In the meantime they're forced to kill a man’s hunting dog for food, leading to a savage repayment for Jacob – forced to sleep with the farmer’s homely, overweight wife to compensate for his own inability to perform marital duties!
Making an hilarious, absurdist getaway, they traverse thousands of miles in the blink of an eye, continuing out of the forest and into Spain where they somehow navigate a correct course to their intended destination, only to discover their uncle is long deceased. Soon they’re demeaning themselves, living in squalor and indulging in sexual misdeeds as a means of survival.
Their luck changes though for as Jacob slinks off to buy bread one day, Maria is mysteriously whisked away by a wealthy stranger, Diego (Carmelo Gomez), to his mansion, a hasty note left behind insisting that Jacob follow. Here, in the pastel grounds of a isolated Spanish villa - quite a contrast from the rugged, snowy terrain of the early scenes - further pieces of the Grimm fairytale fall into place, with jealously, lust, imprisonment and an ailing sister of Diego fitting the bill as a wicked witch.
Eschewing all sense of logic, van Warmerdam seems content to populate his tale with minimal characters, simply stirring the pot of unlikely ingredients to see what kind of potion he ends up with. At times aimless and senseless, Grimm finally blooms into an unreasonably entertaining concoction despite its lack of insight, subtext or purpose.
Leaps of faith are required to enjoy this oblique, occasionally facile 2003 retread of the original story. Making unlikely transitions in time and place seem like matter-of-course isn’t without its risks, but van Warmerdam’s laid-back approach with its loose and carefree sensibility seems to develop its own unique momentum after a while. Despite early reservations I found myself falling in step with it to some extent.
Reijn and Derwig are likeable leads as the confounded siblings, their relationship curiously given incestuous undertones in a few suggestive scenes as their journey wavers from icy mountain to balmy desert to what seems like the abandoned set of a spaghetti western, all aided by the inspired, eclectic score composed by the director himself.
Though it pretty much amounts to nought, Jacob and Marie’s colourful expedition isn’t without episodic, half-hearted peril, and with the aid of a donkey and a car stolen from a mute drunk (played by Kees Prins in the funniest scene of the film) they manage to come full circle, van Warmerdam’s striking final shot accentuating the fantastical division of the two worlds these hapless siblings have inhabited on their rambling misadventure.
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