Tale of Tales - Movie Review

Okay guys! So this is going to be rather new. I usually focus on writing reviews solely geared towards books; however, I noticed that in watching a lot of movies I really want to write down my thoughts and opinions so I've decided to start doing movie reviews on this blog. If you are looking for the reviews be sure to look under my tab entitle "reviews" and you will see a section solely dedicated to movies. Enjoy!

Director: Matteo Garrone 

Actors/Actresses: 

• King of Longtrellis: John C. Reilly 
• Queen of Longtrellis: Salma Hayek 
• King of Strongcliff: Vincent Cassel 
• King of Highhills: Toby Jones
• Imma: Shirley Henderson 
• Dora: Hayley Carmichael 
• Young Dora: Stacy Martin 
• Elias (Prince of Longtrellis): Christian Lees
• Jonah: Jonah Lees
• Violet (Princess of Highhills): Bebe Cave

Genre: Fantasy 

Rating: R

Brief Plot Analysis: Tale of Tales is an extremely fascinating story of three main plots based heavily on fairy tales. One focused on the desire of the queen to have a child, another focuses on a king's obsession with a flea, whereas another king cannot seem to satisfy his sexual appetite. In the end, these three stories tie into one and illustrate to the viewer what happens when you allow your passions to consume you. The plot is not something that always has a clear purpose; however, it does make for a pretty interesting film. 

Queen of Longtrellis

Film Features: The film had some really interesting features especially the locations where the film took place. The scenery was gorgeous and aided in giving the viewer the full experience.  The costumes overall gave the same effect. They were perfect for the setting and gave the film a timeless feeling. Overall, the cinematography of the film was spectacular. I only had a slight issue with the special effects. At times they didn't seem realistic and almost took away from the overall atmosphere of the movie.

Violet 

Characters: This movie had the most interesting array of characters I have ever seen from the kings and queens down to the village people. My favorite character took form in Violet. She was so strong and determined not settle for decisions made on her behalf. After all, she was stuck with a pretty crappy person as her father. In terms of the characters I liked the least, I must say it was a tie between two: King of Strongcliff and the Queen of Longtrellis. The king was only driven by physical appearance and I was so upset that he didn't have to answer to that in the end. He was a shallow pig and he ultimately messes up the lives of two people. The queen was just as if not more calculating. I understand being desperate for a child, but my goodness, she was willing to kill or harm anyone and anything to get what she wanted and in the end she still wasn't satisfied. It just seems as if her wants and needs destroyed more than they helped and in the end the viewer does get the opportunity to see the

Imma & Dora

destruction come full circle.

Overall Thoughts: This turned out to be one of those movies I just couldn't explain. I literally sat on my bed for several minutes and thought "what did I just watch?" It wasn't that the movie was bad or that I didn't enjoy it, I just don't think it is a type of movie that can be explained to another individual. You kind of have to see the movie for itself to understand where the director was heading with this production. I honestly don't even know what made me check this out from the library. It just looked like a fairy tale re-telling that I would possibly be interested in. What I can say is that I'll probably end up watching it again. It was thought provoking enough that I think it needs a second viewing to fully understand all of its components.