Review of Tale of Tales (2015) by Tim M — 29 Oct 2018

'Tale of Tales' is a European fantasy film directed by Matteo Garrone, his first English-language film with an ensemble cast including Salma Hayek, Vincent Cassel, Toby Jones, and John C. Reilly. Interestingly, it was Italian-led production with co-producers in France and the United Kingdom. It is a screen adaptation based on collections of tales by Italian poet and courtier Giambattista Basile. Garrone takes three of the tales and subtly intertwines them.

For whatever reason, I enjoyed this movie, I can't put my finger on it but I was engaged and entertained. The movie does what it's supposed to. It had trouble finding an audience for many reasons. It's hard to describe. When you can't put a movie in a two sentence blurb when describing it, the average moviegoer gets scared away. The run time doesn't matter to me, but a nearly two and a quarter hour film can be intimidating. It's part "B" movie and part fantasy. It seemed liked Garrone never wanted you to think this place is real. It's shot beautifully. When one story switches to another you're never quite sure with the first shot what story you're in. I loved that. I'm not certain why all the tales needed to be combined at the end, but it's a flaw I'm willing to overlook. This isn't everyone's cup of tea and it's certainly not for kids of any age. You'll know in the first 20 minutes whether you like it or not. Final Score: 7.7/10.