Late Freaky Friday: Brotherhood Of The Wolf

 

This week is a two-fer! Not only is it a horror movie, but it's a foreign film too! It was made in France with several American actors and fairly well known French Actors. Most you won't know by name, but you'll know their face. It's also one of the very few movies I can watch dubbed into English and not want to shoot myself. They use the original actors for the dub, so it works pretty well. I don't want to give away too much, so I'll just say that it is kind of a "Hound Of The Baskervilles" story with some Martial Arts and Mystical stuff thrown in for good measure.

Here's the gist of it courtesy of IMDB:

"In 18th century France, the Chevalier de Fronsac and his native American friend Mani are sent by the King to the Gevaudan province to investigate the killings of hundreds by a mysterious beast."

Anymore would give it all away.

Brotherhood of the Wolf (2001)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0237534/

Technical (4) - "Brotherhood" is an interesting movie in that it is a period piece, but has elements of horror, odd action sequences (Martial Arts???), and a mystery all rolled into one. The director, Christophe Gans, hasn't really done much of note for American audiences except for the "Silent Hill" movie which actually wasn't too bad for a video game adaptation, but here he shows some real skill in balancing them all. The sets, costumes, and music are all stellar. The special effects aren't too bad until he uses some CGI that hasn't aged very well. I also have to deduct for the excessive use of slow motion (nowhere near Zack Snyder level, but still).

Dialogue/Story (5) - The story here is really amazing and doesn't seem to lose anything in translation like sometimes foreign films do. It is written to where some things you think have no bearing on the larger story end up having some sort of reasoning in the end. There is alot of dialogue that is long conversations where there is no action or excessive drama, so it is not the type of movie someone with ADHD should watch, but these conversations are rich with subtext and ideas that may not come to fruition until much later. My kinda movie.

Acting (4) - This is an all-star French cast that just doesn't have the same star power in the U.S., but that doesn't mean they aren't good. Monica Bellucci ("Matrix Reloaded", "Brothers Grimm")  and Vincent Cassel ("Ocean's 12", "Black Swan"), who are husband and wife btw, turn out great performances as does Mark Dacascos ("Iron Chef: America" lol) even though he doesn't quite fit in, but that's much of the point since he is supposed to be a Native American. My biggest problem is the actual star of the movie, Samuel Le Bihan. He's not bad, but he just gets out shone in ever scene by everyone else. He's supposed to be very low key, which I get, but to me he seems more out of place than Dacascos even though he's an actual Frenchman.

Tilt (4) - As you can tell, I thoroughly enjoy this movie every time I watch it. It's one of those that would be pretty good for people who have never seen a foreign movie to start getting into them. It has some American sensibilities, but still is odd enough to be French. If you've never seen it, watch it.

Total Score: (4.25)

Next time a movie that I don't care for...promise. LOL