Brave

Plot synopsis:
In Medieval Scotland, Merida, a young princess of the clan Dunbroch, is given a bow and arrow by her father, King Fergus, for her birthday. Her mother, Queen Elinor, is dismayed. While venturing into the woods to fetch a stray arrow, Merida encounters a will-o'-the-wisp. Soon afterward, Mor'du, a huge demon bear, attacks the family. Merida flees on horseback with Elinor, while Fergus fends off Mor'du, though the fight costs him one of his legs.
Now a teenager, Merida discovers that to her dismay, she is to be betrothed to the son of one of her father's allies. Reminding Merida of a legend of a prince whose pride and refusal to follow his father's wishes destroyed his kingdom, Elinor explains that failure to consent to the betrothal could harm Dunbroch.
The allied clan chieftains and their first-born sons arrive to compete in the Highland games for Merida's hand in marriage. Merida twists the rules, announcing that as her own clan's firstborn she is eligible to compete for her own hand. She easily bests her suitors in an archery contest, shaming the other clans. Later, she and Elinor argue and Merida leaves. After following the wisps to the hut of an elderly witch, Merida bargains with her for a spell to change her fate.
When Merida gives the spell, in the form of a cake, to Elinor, it causes Elinor to transform into a bear, though still retaining most of her human personality. Merida returns to the witch's cottage with Elinor, only to find it deserted, and discovers a message from the witch: unless Merida is able to "mend the bond torn by pride" before the second sunrise, the spell will become permanent. Merida and Elinor are led by the wisps to ancient ruins, where they encounter Mor'du. Realizing that Mor'du was the prince in the legend, Merida vows that she will not let the same thing happen to her mother, and concludes she needs to repair the tapestry she damaged during their argument.
They return to the castle to find the clans on the verge of war. Having learned from her experience with her mother, Merida intends to declare herself ready to choose a suitor as tradition demands, but with encouragement from Elinor, instead insists that the first-born should be allowed to marry in their own time to whomever they choose. The clans agree, breaking tradition but renewing and strengthening their alliance. Merida sneaks into the tapestry room with Elinor. Elinor, who is losing her humanity, attacks Fergus, but suddenly regains her composure and flees the castle. Mistaking the queen for Mor'du and unable to listen to Merida, Fergus pursues the bear with the other clans, locking Merida in the castle. With the help of her triplet younger brothers, who also ate the cake and have been transformed into bear cubs, Merida escapes and repairs the tapestry while riding after her father. Fergus and the clans capture Elinor, but Merida intervenes and stops her father before Mor'du arrives. Mor'du batters the clan warriors and targets Merida, but Elinor intercedes, holding off Mor'du and causing him to be crushed by a falling menhir. This releases the spirit of the prince, who silently thanks Merida for freeing him. As the sun rises for the second time, Merida realizes the mistakes she has made and reconciles with Elinor, causing the queen and the triplets to turn back into humans.
With Mor'du gone, Merida and Elinor work together on a new tapestry when they are called to the docks to bid farewell to the other clans.

Tags: flashback

Review:
Bleak interpretation of a bleak subject.
Brave was Marillion's seventh studio album, their third with Steve Hogarth.
It was that most unfashionable of products, a concept album from a prog-rock outfit in the early 90's.The story was complete invention, starting from a real event; the police found a young woman wandering on a motorway bridge.
She couldn't or wouldn't tell them anything.
From this starting point, the group wove a story which covered abuse by her father as a child, moving on into drug abuse and a few other events leading to her being on the bridge, contemplating suicide.The film is an interpretation of the story, with the co-operation of the band - although they feature only in passing on screen.
This film is about as far from MTV video as it's possible to get!The story is mostly told via the images and Marillion's music - there is little dialogue.
As such, I feel the film is something of a curate's egg; some of it works really well, while others need more explanation.
The scenes with the Hollow Man (the man in the mask) could do with something extra, since it's not really clear if this is simply a barrier the girl erects to protect her from people who hurt her, a cipher that means these people are interchangeable, or something else entirely.Not a bad effort, but not brilliant, either.
If you're unfamiliar with the original album, be prepared to be baffled the first couple of times through..
Haunting, depressing, gripping.
The haunting video that accompanied the Marillion's eighth studio album.
The film tells the fictional story about a confused runaway girl who's picked up by the police when found wandering at the Severn Bridge.A police psychiatrist tries to unravel the mystery about the girl, who refuses to talk.
He learns about her problems in her childhood, when she was abused by her father, her running away, her drug-abusing and more terrible things.
Meanwhile almost all the songs of Marillion's album is being played.Although maybe not the best film in the world, it will definitely leave you with a strange taste in your mouth.
It helps if you like the Marillion's music though..
A golden opportunity thrown away.
Arguably Marillion's greatest achievement in a career of consistent lack of recognition, Brave is a remarkable piece of music with astounding lyrics.
Steve Hogarth sinks into the world of an angst ridden teenager with frightening accuracy, but in the hands of Richard Stanley the idea of making a vivid visual accompaniment to the songs collapses into embarrassment.
The movie looks dreadful for a start, with horridly crude special effects.
The little dialogue there is is cringeable.
And a relatively simple story becomes complicated and confused, with men in masks and voodoo temples wandering in and out of the story for no reason.
This is just being obscure for the sake of it; there are no meanings being this chaotic mess.
Even the opening sequence of the girl on the bridge is bland.
It's shot in daylight...everything that could be wrong with such scenes is.
Josie Ayres is suitably expressive in the lead but she clearly deserves better than this.
It's childish and tries to shock, but only alienates.
It all goes to show that the idea of a music video is frequently a bad one, robbing music of the richness of your own personal imaginings.
And yet Marillion have done a few god 'uns, namely Kayleigh, Sugar Mice and He Knows You Know..
Why Have Thou Forsaken Me Richard Stanley?.
I liked director Richard Stanley's HARDWARE and I really liked DUST DEVIL so when I saw this "concept" film by the director on DVD, I forked over the money and crossed my fingers.
Brave is a film that revolves around it's musical score which is a full length album by a British band called Marillion.
Now, I'm not a fan of their music.
Aside from some nice ambient moments I can barely stand the tunes but I wasn't going to let this stand in the way of my enjoyment of the film.
I figured Stanley would amaze me given the creative control one assumes comes with making a "concept film".
Expecting the surreal, bizarre and abstract, I was instead given a repetitive, boring and clichéd 50 minute music video.
The story concerns a young woman who has lost her memory and is being hypnotized, remembering various (mostly painful) moments of her life that have led he to a bridge, possibly to kill herself.
Sounds promising but everything is so dull and predictable.
The effects look cheap and the imagery lacks the punch I was hoping for.
Worst of all, Stanley cuts to footage of the band "rocking out" or close ups of the singer being a poser and singing into the camera throughout the film.
There's a lot of emotion in the songs, performances and story, but it all falls flat for me.
Fans of Marillion might be forgiving but those watching this hoping for a dose of Richard Stanley will likely be disappointed.
Three stars out of ten for the honest attempt and the odd moment that works..
A weak attempt to repeat teenage tragedy, suicide, surreal and psychotic.
After a clockwork orange and the wall, did you really think you stood a chance?
Marillion, stays mediocre for a reason,...
This dead and beaten horse needs to stay in the grave..
Marillion's feeble attempt to revive such modern clichés wasn't meant for video, it is clearly not the best vehicle of choice for crafting and communicating a concept album, especially after compiling the tracks first, and the film later.
The production has a paint by numbers feeling to it, not enough place for imagination nor any power of suggestion left open to interpretation.
On the other hand, I'm sure it made great publicity for it's time.I have been following Marillion since 1984 and endured the transition from Fish to Steve Hogarth, not sure what to think, either a mockery of Derek Dick's old camp (the old band)or the story of a very,very lost and misplaced childhood.
If video killed the radio song Marillion just proved it....