Grimm

Plot synopsis:
A brother and sister, Jacob and Marie, live with their father and mother. The family is in a situation where living becomes difficult for them. One day Jacob and Marie's father abandons the two of them in woods while they go collecting firewood. From that moment on, the two teens must fend for themselves, fighting off rape and taking on any possible situation, reacting to situations as if animals. Their mother put a note in Jacob's jacket telling them to go to their aunt and uncle in Spain, but they arrive to find them both deceased in an accident.
Not sure what to do, Jacob, feeling hungry, goes to buy a roll, and finds a note left by Marie that she has gone off to marry a rich man named Diego. Jacob arrives at the house, ominous in spite of its brightness, and finds much to distrust in Diego.
Diego, a surgeon, then plots to steal Jacob's kidney to help his sick sister Theresa. Diego drugs both Marie and Jacob and separates the brother and sister.
After Marie escapes, she finds Jacob severely injured in a stolen car and both brother and sister (reunited again) drive away. Suddenly they are chased by Diego in a car. In the chase Diego's car crashes off the road. Jacob and Marie take shelter in an abandoned house in an abandoned village. With the help of Marie, ailing Jacob gets healed.
As the days pass one windy day Diego comes in search to take Marie and kill Jacob. In the encounter by hide and seek Jacob kills Diego by shooting an arrow. Jacob and Marie bury Diego's body and on hearing sound they sneak under the house. Police come on routine patrol and search the house and leave.
Jacob and Marie sit relaxed beside a nearby flowing river and the credits scroll on.

Tags: murder

Review:
This film has a rather impressive billing, with the version I rented stated "siblings Jacob and Marie embark on a surreal, often night-marrish odyssey." The movie starts out Hansel and Gretel-esquire in that regard, but doesn't move much further.
There is a journey to be had, if one is interested in following two characters whom they know little about through different cities where they meet different people.
As far as the comedy, the movie fails to win stars in that department as well.
This fact is acceptable for the first 40 minutes, but by the 41st, you will certainly ask yourself why you are still watching, hoping that something relevant will occur.I cannot totally smash the movie, however, as the colors were quite vibrant and the journey itself is something that certain watchers might find interesting in its own right.
I should also mention that a greater understanding of the Brothers Grimm and their folk tales might lend itself to a greater appreciation of the film.
It was clear that this was the case with the 2005 Matt Damon film, but with this one, it is less obvious whether a greater understanding of the tales would make Grimm better.If you're going to watch it, make sure you school yourself on the back story (the Brother's Grimm tales)..
It's absurd, it's a little Bunuel sometimes and mostly funny.Probably this is supposed to be a modern Grimm tale, but including sex.
There are no real human beings here, like in Grimm.
Like Hansel and Gretl, the brother and sister are alone in the world, with no parents to lean on.
They leave Holland and come to a strange dreamlike Spain, where they meet another brother and sister, evil and crazy.There certainly are scenes here you will remember, but most of all you will remember the dark humour, which makes you laugh at totally wrong places..
As mentioned in the title, Grimm is, what I hear, based on the fairy tale of Hansel & Gretel.
That sounded good but the movie I watched really had nothing to do with the story I knew.
What we get is a decent, yet dark, movie that had some amusing moments.Maria (Halina Reijn) and Jacob (Jacob Derwig) are an adult brother and sister who appears to have a sexual relationship as well.
Gotta love the Dutch movie makers.
Anyhow, Maria and Jacob are abandoned in the woods early on in the movie by their parents because they could no longer afford to take care of them.
At this point in the movie, you know that nothing good will ever happen to Maria & Jacob so Diego can't be good.That seems to be the theme of the movie.
I do not think they find one person who actually helps them out in the movie.
Possibly, this is the resemblance to the fairy tale but, in all honesty, it does not seem similar at all to me, with minor exceptions of being lost in a forest, running into evil people, etc.Overall, it was a decent movie that I felt could have done without the Hansel & Gretel connection.
This was not as good as I expected, however, I have spent my time in worse ways and on worse movies in the past.
The film starts off as a homage to 'Hansel and Gretal', the Brothers Grimm's popular tale, however in the end the film spirals out in a completely different direction to their story, with many bizarre events along the way.
While it is not all that satisfying to watch illogical events, the film is somewhat intriguing since anything can happen.
It has a dark sense of humour at times too, and strange sexual elements are worked into it.
It is often repulsive, the characters are not developed so that they can be easily liked, and the hybridisation of the crime, horror, fantasy and western genres tends to jar an already awkward narrative.
This is a story about a brother and a sister going on a journey together, because their parents didn't have money to support them anymore.Where the movie is about a journey, the movie itself is like a journey too, where the viewer constantly falls into amazement, excitement, recognition, and sometimes a laughing fit.
Its a surreal story that starts of exactly the same as Hansel and Grettel, but where you expect the brother and sister to find a house of candy, the movie takes a totally different turn, and goes on like that.
Every time you think you know whats going to happen, its like the director says "ha ha, but I'm not that predictable" and sticking out his tong to you.
As I continue to read more and more dedicated, intelligent graphic novels, I cannot help but think that perhaps director Alex van Warmerdam didn't read a couple prior to creating this film.
From the opening sequences until the end of this film, you cannot help but feel a sense of whimsy, the fantastical, and enchantment.
From our hopeless characters to the sporadic plot, Warmerdam has created a film in which the symbolic references and fairy tale connections isn't laid out in front of you, but instead deeply rooted within the chaos of Grimm for only those who are truly dedicated can find them.
In fact, it isn't one of the greatest films that I have seen, but it did burst from the seams with potential.Warmerdam has quite the ability to build a very surreal world, place unknowing (and sometimes unwilling) characters into the mix, and give us bleak references to pop-children's culture.
For those of you die hard fairy tale fanatics, you may not like this story.
It is not one that the average film viewer will enjoy.
It takes some time developing the characters, and it takes quite a bit of time giving us its story.
Warmerdam does a great job of giving us two great navigators through his story with Jacob and Maria.
While their interweaving stories could/should have been developed deeper with stronger bonds between them and the other characters in this film, Warmerdam has done a superb job of giving us their sole stories and emotions.
If you solely watch just Jacob and Maria throughout this film, you will see such a strong human element and the sporadic events that occur to them as they continue their perilous journey.
I applaud Warmerdam for his work on these two characters because they lead us through the story.
We feel for them, we grow with them, we rally behind them near the end, so in essence, we enjoy these characters.
Alas, his lacking story structure is the only hurdle that is tough to cross.Warmerdam interweaves so many different fairy tale-esquire moments throughout the story that you begin to loose focus of the central themes.
It reminded me of a third-grade story in which the young child forgot to do his homework and begins his report on "Hansel & Gretel" and inadvertently brings in moments from "Peter Pan", "Little Red Riding Hood", and "Jack & the Beanstalk" unknowingly.
As the class laughs, you cannot help but think of how interesting a story like that would be.
I think Warmerdam did his homework, brought several different childish stories together, but somehow never quite completed them.
I wanted to enjoy the different stories.
Warmerdam had a great concept with this film, but never was able to pull his ideas together.
Coupled with a horrible choice of music selection, Warmerdam never quite built the darkness surrounding Grimm.
That is what ultimately hurt this picture.Overall, Warmerdam did a decent job with overall final product of this film.
Grimm is not a film for everyone, but for those that enjoy moments of David Lynch coupled with themes of childhood fairy tales.
It is a dark story that never quite makes you laugh but instead attempts to use shocking cinematography to bring you this surreal world that we never quite believe exists.
His characters were strong, but his story lacked decent connection.
I found myself, like Jacob and Maria, lost during several of the scenes only to reconnect later during the film.
In a loose adaptation of "Hansel and Gretel", Dutch siblings Jacob and Marie are abandoned by their parents and eventually make their way to Spain.
Everything looks normal at first, but it becomes apparent that Diego might not be quite what he seems, especially after Jacob tries to drag Marie away from him.What's really neat about "Grimm" is how it plays with the audience.
After they leave the Netherlands, you think that the movie's important part has already happened, but you're wrong.
That door in Diego's house gives me the feeling that along with "Hansel and Gretel", there's also a tinge of "Bluebeard" here.
And I wonder if that town at the end is the one where they filmed the spaghetti westerns.
You might propably not like this film at all.
I think this is of these films that need the viewer to be open minded.
If you are one of those who say: No, you cannot go from Holland to Spain with one tank of gasoline, you should never watch this film!
However, if you feel that odd things might very well be possible in films, and you don't care about odd things in films, this might be the one for you!I think viewing it requires a bit of knowledge about fairy tales.
The same way as the Coen Brothers knew how to use an old existing story and place it in modern times without loosing the context, Alex van Warmerdam took a story and found how to remake it in a modern way.
The same sense of absurd humor, but maybe a little less funny, than o brother were art thou.
van Warmerdam, however knew very well how to keep the way of storytelling by the grimm brothers intact.
The flickering way of storytelling, combined with a fine feeling of suspense, makes this into one of my best Dutch films recently..
At last we can see a movie that makes us Dutch folks laugh.
It's based on a fairy tale of Grimm.
It worth watching because I didn't see any better Dutch movie this year.
Starts as a fairy tale (of course that's why the movie has been called Grimm) and continues as a totally absurd, but very funny story.
Great acting.Don't watch this film if you have a lack of fantasy and/or humor.
Yet another stab at making a contemporary adult (as in intended audience not porn) version of the Grimm brothers' fairy tales.
Weird but not strange enough, dark but not dark enough, lurid but not lurid enough, the film ends up being pointless and tedious.
Opening with clear Grimm Bros inspiration as our two protagonists are abandoned in the woods by their father, the film quickly abandons its early premise (as well as its promise) and loses any focus as they arrive in Spain.
A sure sign of a problem is the best thing I can say about the film is its inspired choice of a set - the use of an abandoned Wild West ghost town leftover from Spaghetti Westerns..
Director Alex van Warmerdam is known for his own sort of surreal and absurd style of film-making, that however never feel too artistic or forced, which makes all of his movies also perfectly watchable for most large public groups.
The movie begins as a modern fairytale, with some of the generic elements in it.
Then the movie almost suddenly stops and slows down once the two characters get to Spain.
The movie becomes an entirely different one again.The middle part and till some extend would had made a fairly good movie on its own but keeping in the mind the first part of the movie it makes you realize how utterly pointless that part was, since it doesn't really connect with the rest of the movie.
It's way too disjointed all.I can definitely understand van Warmerdam's intentions with this movie but it just doesn't all translate to the screen very well.
He probably thought he was making his "El Topo".No matter how hard Halina Reijn tries, she and Jacob Derwig, who play brother and sister in this movie, just don't have much chemistry together.
The movie is filled with some other well known Dutch and I suppose also fairly well known Spanish actors, in some small as well as some bigger roles.
Some are well cast, others obviously aren't.The movie is good looking, with professional cinematography.
Also very little wrong with the actual directing of it all, they just didn't had the best material to work with in the long run.Has some quality but it just isn't the best watchable movie.5/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/.
Although this movie has it's funny moments, yes and even good acting.
Last night this movie was shown on dutch television so I decided to take a look.Why did I do that?
The last could be a good thing, but it isn't, I meant it in a bad way.If you like your characters to be unlikable, somewhat retarded, incestuous and totally weird, you might like the movie.
Moral of the story is : Face it and handle it without complains!Grimm Rocks!I think this movie is unconventional and offbeat.
Both the characters though inspired from Hansel and Gretel are quite original.
Both the characters though inspired from Hansel and Gretel are quite original.
Moral of the story is : Face it and handle it without complains!Grimm Rocks!.
On a winter's day a cold-hearted father abandons his son Jacob and daughter Maria in the woods, while they were off looking for firewood.
The story loosely takes on the Hansel and Gretel fairytale, but goes for a more grownup approach, which is filled with dark humour, incredibly odd adventures and like the title implies a grim nature.
To make matters worse the characters, especially Jacob and Maria are glazed over and because of that they're hard to like or to connect with.
I rented the movie because it's cover looked interesting.
There are a few good, humorous aspects in this film, and a ton of potential, but right up to the credits I found myself waiting for the plot to wrap itself up or conclude.
I cannot tell you how much I regret watching this film.
"Grimm" is a strange re-working of the old story of Hansel and Gretel.
However, it's been changed so much that you can hardly call it "Hansel and Gretel"--particularly since the characters' names are Jacob and Marie.This bizarre story begins with a starving family in Holland during a cold winter.
I sure didn't know and that is why I kept watching...hoping that the film would ultimately prove satisfying.Could this sick material have worked?
However, making the two main characters so unlikable (as is EVERYONE in this film) didn't help matters any.
The only things I really found of interest was the escape from the ugly woman (this was rather funny) and seeing an old Spanish/Italian western movie set at the end..
"Grimm" is a remotely original and well-intended Dutch re-working of the famous Hansel and Gretel fairy-tale, updated with nowadays social issues like violence, sexual perversion and even the mafia-like trade in human organs!
Siblings Maria and Jacob are left behind in the Dutch woods by their father and intend to head for Spain, following a written note of their mother.
The road to Spain, as well as the actual residence, is a series of obstacles and encounters with weird characters.
The first half hour is really good, alternately comical and compassionate with some absurd (but ingenious) ideas, like Jacob's acquaintance with a farmer who forces him to have sex with his corpulent wife.
The rest of the film is totally illogical and very, VERY pointless.
If you think that's nonsense, don't even bother watching the rest of the film...
Most of the time, you're wondering why the hell you should care about the dreadful tale of these two weirdos and even the beautiful Spanish settings become boring after a short while.
Director Alex Van Warmermeer has the reputation of being a pseudo-artistic and gifted filmmaker, but so far I haven't enjoyed ANY of his films I've seen (others being "Abel" and "De Noorderlingen")..
Most things we do, see and say every day don't make much sense.Aside from writing and directing, Warmerdam is also a wonderful actor given to playing overwhelmed characters who are never really sure why they're alive.
The dichotomy between light and dark is very evident in this film and very evident in Warmerdam's predilection for dark/light humour and quasi-surreal drama.Throughout the film, Warmerdam reminds us that this is a modern fairy tale (hence the Grimm title).
Halina Reijn as Maria and Jacob Derwig as her brother Jacob are terrific playing siblings involved in a lovingly incestuous relationship that is so casual it never really speaks its name.
This is Warmerdam at his mischievous and satirical best: haven't we, with our overactive, dirty little minds, always suspected there might have been more to the Hansel and Gretel story than two lost kids courting danger in the forest?
A peculiar film which quite deserves its name, GRIMM is a post-modern non-fairy tale of (adult) siblings abandoned in the woods by their parents.
Her relationship with her brother Jacob (Jacob Derwig) is rife with incestuous overtones.While it helps to have read the original Grimm tales (not the modern Disneyfied versions), knowledge of the history of Spain & the Netherlands is also quite useful.
(A)Sexual cold Holland.As soon as the couple drive through the "magic" tunnel & arrive in Spain's "netherlands" I was reminded of Alex Cox's STRAIGHT TO HELL, another modern "fairy tale".
I'm not certain (as I haven't seen S.T.H. in at least 15 years), but I believe the western movie set town they finally arrive at for the final acts of GRIMM is the same place."Let's go home." and bring the donkey along.Include on DVD is a short silent film called "Painting" (verb not noun).