In one of the early scenes of Matteo Garrone's new spellbinder, a man battles a sea monster for its heart. Literally. The scene plays out in pure cinematic fashion in the fogginess of the sea, with the monster snoozing while the man readies himself with a spear. In one swift stab, the monster that looks like a colossal pale lizard is impaled and it thrashes around, trying to come to terms with this sudden attack and in the process, the man takes a hit from its scaled tail. Later, its still-beating heart is pulled out and cooked, and a princess feasts on it.
It's a dreadfully ugly but weirdly comical sight. The opening twenty minutes serve as a perfect introduction to the many oddities attached with Tale Of Tales, a horror-fantasy fable conceived with great impishness. Meshing three parables set in a fanciful kingdom, each with its own set of quirks, Garrone's film is grotesque, strangely moving and often witty, maintaining that balance with vigor for most of its runtime. An adaptation of a collection of tales by Neapolitan poet and courtier Giambatissta Basile, it is the kind of film whose tendency to turn to the bizarre lends it an unpredictability. This could be an advantage or disadvantage, because once you are sucked into its world, it captures you. Expecting the usual fare from it becomes a foolish want. We are at the mercy of a storyteller who may or may not know the weight of the risk they just undertook. They need to shoulder our expectations, then, and show us something remarkable or risk a disappointed audience.
But in the case of Tale Of Tales, the risk pays off.
And that could be attributed to the fact that Garrone is a clever filmmaker. He is in complete command of the tone of the film, the pace at which his world unravels and the twists that show up at regular intervals. It is not a sprawling period piece that one would expect from a plot, or several, that involve kings and queens and princesses and princes. With only a handful of characters and moody shots of deserted alleys and tiny kingdoms, the film has a quaint touch to it, evoking images of yore that we had only seen in our imaginations through vivid fairytales. Vanished is the realism and stark storytelling of Garrone's masterful Gomorrah.
I wonder: when was the last time a film bragged about sequences where a sea monster was eliminated, a flea was nourished until it became an intimidating beast by an eccentric king, an ogre was not so likable anymore (sorry, Shrek), a lustful king was conned by a bunch of hags and a woman was flayed in accordance to her request? In the same film, too. That's quite, quite mad, to have everything stuffed in a single film, but Tale Of Tales walks its own wonderful path littered with the choicest peculiarities. And nowhere does it seem excessive. Beneath the blanket of macabre humor and inexplicable emotion, each tale is narrated with imagination and deftness, bringing to the table a sweeping cinematic experience with an unmissable philosophical undercurrent.
The parables cross-cut between one another fluidly. Gomorrah is an excellent example wherein he navigated between several parallel strands so skillfully that, for the duration of the film, we knew exactly what was going on with whom. Here, we have less characters to keep track of, which gives Garrone more space for character development. And, indeed, by the end, each character has weaved their spells over us.
However, even with numerous factors tipping the scales in favor of greatness, Tale Of Tales is flawed. Some twists are either foreseeable or simply feeble, not adding enough spice to the proceedings for their inclusion to be justified. But for the most part the film is busy plying us with rich, vibrant storytelling for it to be a foil.
Tale Of Tales is not for everyone, but it is a great way to introduce adults to the joys of, um, adult fairytales, if you will. Of course, with "adult" comes with a large dollop of morbidness and a bright red sign instructing children to keep away.
(Not For Reproduction)
It's a dreadfully ugly but weirdly comical sight. The opening twenty minutes serve as a perfect introduction to the many oddities attached with Tale Of Tales, a horror-fantasy fable conceived with great impishness. Meshing three parables set in a fanciful kingdom, each with its own set of quirks, Garrone's film is grotesque, strangely moving and often witty, maintaining that balance with vigor for most of its runtime. An adaptation of a collection of tales by Neapolitan poet and courtier Giambatissta Basile, it is the kind of film whose tendency to turn to the bizarre lends it an unpredictability. This could be an advantage or disadvantage, because once you are sucked into its world, it captures you. Expecting the usual fare from it becomes a foolish want. We are at the mercy of a storyteller who may or may not know the weight of the risk they just undertook. They need to shoulder our expectations, then, and show us something remarkable or risk a disappointed audience.
But in the case of Tale Of Tales, the risk pays off.
And that could be attributed to the fact that Garrone is a clever filmmaker. He is in complete command of the tone of the film, the pace at which his world unravels and the twists that show up at regular intervals. It is not a sprawling period piece that one would expect from a plot, or several, that involve kings and queens and princesses and princes. With only a handful of characters and moody shots of deserted alleys and tiny kingdoms, the film has a quaint touch to it, evoking images of yore that we had only seen in our imaginations through vivid fairytales. Vanished is the realism and stark storytelling of Garrone's masterful Gomorrah.
I wonder: when was the last time a film bragged about sequences where a sea monster was eliminated, a flea was nourished until it became an intimidating beast by an eccentric king, an ogre was not so likable anymore (sorry, Shrek), a lustful king was conned by a bunch of hags and a woman was flayed in accordance to her request? In the same film, too. That's quite, quite mad, to have everything stuffed in a single film, but Tale Of Tales walks its own wonderful path littered with the choicest peculiarities. And nowhere does it seem excessive. Beneath the blanket of macabre humor and inexplicable emotion, each tale is narrated with imagination and deftness, bringing to the table a sweeping cinematic experience with an unmissable philosophical undercurrent.
The parables cross-cut between one another fluidly. Gomorrah is an excellent example wherein he navigated between several parallel strands so skillfully that, for the duration of the film, we knew exactly what was going on with whom. Here, we have less characters to keep track of, which gives Garrone more space for character development. And, indeed, by the end, each character has weaved their spells over us.
However, even with numerous factors tipping the scales in favor of greatness, Tale Of Tales is flawed. Some twists are either foreseeable or simply feeble, not adding enough spice to the proceedings for their inclusion to be justified. But for the most part the film is busy plying us with rich, vibrant storytelling for it to be a foil.
Tale Of Tales is not for everyone, but it is a great way to introduce adults to the joys of, um, adult fairytales, if you will. Of course, with "adult" comes with a large dollop of morbidness and a bright red sign instructing children to keep away.
(Not For Reproduction)
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