The Long Dark Marathon of the Soul 2022: Blancanieves (2012), directed by Pablo Berger

 

The Trailer

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The Appropriate Tune: 'Matador' by Los Fabulosos Cadillacs

       On such a literary-minded Marathon it only makes sense that we would get at least one movie based on a fairy tale. I mean that’s what you’d call meat and potatoes storytelling, before the novel, before the population was mostly literate, fairy tales were a way to impart knowledge onto your descendents, and unlike many aspects of our past they’ve managed to stick around. Not as the cautionary tales and social lessons they once were, but as fuel for other stories, comics, video games, and of course films. Which is fine, unless you’re a goth I think we can agree it’s better to exist than to not exist.

       Released in 2012, Blancanieves was written and directed by Pablo Berger and produced by Berger, Jerome Vidal and Ibon Cormenzana, based on the story Snow White attributed to the Brothers Grimm. It’s the turn of the century in Spain, and everybody is talking about the great matador Antonio Villalarta and his lovely wife Carmen (Macarena Garcia, who also plays their adult daughter). That is until the fateful day when Antonio was gored, leaving him a quadriplegic, and his wife died in childbirth. Pretty sad, but it gets even sadder when Antonio falls under the influence of the beautiful (and evil) Encarna (Maribel Verdu), who completely takes over Antonio’s life and his fortune. Then it gets even sadder when that little girl’s guardian and grandmother dies and she is forced to move in with her invalid father and her evil stepmother, where she’s constantly abused and treated like a slave. But just wait until little Carmen grows up and we start throwing murder into the mix! It’s like the Coachella of depression this time around!

       The first thing you notice when watching Blancanieves is the visuals. Pablo Berger doesn’t just take the Snow White story and place it in the 1920’s, he goes full on 20’s tribute and makes this a black and white silent film. We’ve seen a couple silent film revivals on this blog, the first one that comes to mind being Call of Cthulhu, but this might be the best looking of the bunch. The costumes, the architecture, the camera effects, it all feels like it was lifted directly from the period, while maintaining the crisp imagery of modern cinema. It’s not fully visual storytelling, you can tell there’s certain parts where Berger couldn’t figure out a way to get info across without a bunch of dialogue cards, but I certainly appreciate the effort, as this didn’t have to be a silent film at all.

       The other thing you might do is question who this film is for, because it’s certainly not children. I’m not even talking about the violence, although this film is chock full of that, because everyone and their mother are aware of how the Grimm’s fairy tales were a lot darker than Disney would have you believe at this point. I’m talking about the BDSM references, the sexual assault, and the general air of hopelessness that seems out of place. Where the message of the original story was that as long as you’re a good person things will work out in the end, the message of Blancanieves appears to be that life is one long parade of suffering and that you can’t even rely on death to give you any sense of relief. Which might be more ‘realistic’ I suppose, but then most folk don’t really read fairy tales for the sense of realism do they? If I wanted to feel bad I’d just look in a mirror, I don’t need a Snow White movie to do it for me.

       Ultimately though I’m giving Blancanieves a mild recommendation. While I wasn’t in the right headspace for it, the film does look great and seeing the classic fairy reinterpreted through a modernist lens is sure to be appealing to some. You don’t even have to worry about subtitles, what more could you ask of a foreign film? Besides a free cheeseburger after every viewing.

The Long Dark Marathon of the Soul 2019: Moon Child, or El niño de la luna (1989), directed by Agustí Villaronga

The Trailer

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The Appropriate Tune: "The Host of Seraphim", by Dead Can Dance

       If there’s one thing people love to talk about, christian and nonchristian alike, it’s the Antichrist. The normal Christ was fine, sure, raising the dead and feeding the hungry and all that jazz, but we already know his deal. The Antichrist, however, could be anybody, and indeed when you bring it up it seems like everybody will have their own opinion on who it is. Popular politicians are the Antichrist, homosexual people are the Antichrist, Muslims are the Antichrist, and so on and on in that fashion. Someone once said that if Jesus himself were to actually reappear on Earth, then even he would be derided as the Antichrist, and I don’t know if that’s too far off from reality. I mean it’s a way to push blind hatred onto the world while avoiding the actual confrontation with the root issues of the world’s problems, so no wonder you see it so often, but at this point I have to wonder if there’s anyone on Earth that isn’t some kind of demon or Antichrist. Joe Pera maybe, but everyone else is to be determined.

       With how popular the Antichrist witch hunt is in real life, it is no wonder that we’ve seen more than a fair share of books, comics, music albums, and of course movies on the subject. Richard Donner’s The Omen, Marathon alum Rosemary’s Baby, and our film today, Moon Child, from Spain’s Agustí Villaronga. Based on the 1923 novel by the famous occultist Aleister Crowley, the film stars Enrique Saldana as David, an orphan boy who possesses not only telekinetic powers, but the belief that he is the legendary Moon Child, which is apparently a big deal although it’s never exactly clear what that even means. It is those abilities that brought him to the attention of a mysterious cult, who are not only collecting psychic children, but are also getting ready to bring about the birth of the Moon Child, with the ultimate intent of ruling the world or whatever. As David is the Moon Child, or at least thinks he is, he develops a relationship with the chosen progenitors, Edgar and Georgina, and decides to help them escape. It’s a cross-continental race against time as David travels toward his ultimate destiny, which is probably important.

        The first thing that came to mind while watching Moon Child was that of Dario Argento’s work, like Phenomena or Suspiria. The Center where is cult is headquartered,  its large opulent architecture adorned almost saturated white in places, emblazoned with this hexagonal logo, feels in line with Argento’s aesthetic, although that’s probably the closest Moon Child ever gets to that level of hyper-stylization. Beyond that though VIllaronga just has a great eye in general, from the crumbling ruins in a North Africa desert to an old woman’s shack it all looks great, period-appropriate (I assume the movie takes place in 1923 as well) but with some wear and tear to it. Something which you don’t often see in more modern period pieces, which like to assume everything from the 20s was dry-cleaned, waxed, and covered in gold leaf.

       Villaronga also takes a cue from Argento in bringing in a band to compose the score for his film, in this case goth rock/darkwave/tribal ambient band Dead Can Dance, even going a step further and casting DCD vocalist Lisa Gerrard as the Moon Child’s mother Georgina. If I’m being honest I never took much notice of the music; Not because it was bad, just that it blended into the scenes to the extent that it became ‘invisible’, so to speak. Which is arguably what you want in a score, music which doesn’t separate itself from the film in your mind, but maybe I just wasn’t paying much attention. A good rule of thumb in these reviews is that if I don’t specifically mention the music, it’s probably okay.

       As you might have guessed from the film summary though, the film is a little obtuse. What is a Moon Child? Who is this cult and why do they want to ‘create’ a Moon Child in the first place? Since when did psychic powers exist, and why is the cult buying up psychic kids if they’re already gunning for the Moon Child? How is David a ten year old boy but is also trying to ensure his own birth like some kind of Back to the Future scenario? All those questions and more will not be answered during the film’s runtime. Yeah, you’re likely pointing an accusing finger at me and say ‘you love to name drop David Lynch and you’re complaining about things being obscure?’, but with Lynch films the intent never seems to be on telling so much as it is attempting to evoke emotions or ideas. Moon Child is more concrete, and thus these questions become more relevant. Why should I care if David succeeds in his quest or not if I don’t know what the quest is, or why it needs to be done? Even if it’s a fairy tale you know why Red Riding Hood does what she does and why the wolf does what it does, and if Moon Child is trying to work the fairy tale vibe like it looks to be doing, then the foundation needs to be built.

       It also doesn’t help that I never found myself caring about the characters. In a two hour movie it feels like the main characters barely interact with each other, and when they do it feels off, like the tone is off. It’s especially bad with David, who is supposed to be having this grand adventure and people are so attached to him or whatever and yet never changes in a tangible way once in the movie. If two hours of looking at some kid’s slack-jawed, wide-eyed stare sounds good to you than this is your Godfather, but honestly I got sick of him early on the movie and nothing ever challenged that opinion. If you want to usher in a new age for mankind you might want to pick someone with a little more charisma, is all I’m saying.

        Moon Child isn’t a bad movie, but for a two hour picture it takes a while to really get going, and even then it stays under the speed limit the whole way through. If you’re into occult stuff, Crowley and tarot cards, shit like that then I would recommend it as an experience, but folks who like a little flash and thrills are probably better off with something like Suspiria or The Omen. If you need your Antichrist fix this Halloween, there’s plenty of options.