LAURIN [1989]

A GRIMM'S FAIRY TALE SET AT THE TURN OF THE 20TH CENTURY. 

This Hungarian/German (actually West German at the time) co-production has something of the flavour of mixing VALERIE AND HER WEEK OF WONDERS with Ray Bradbury's SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES.  Or not.  Only small flashes of those two appear in the 1989 film LAURIN along with the dark-forest atmosphere of the Brothers Grimm combined with David Fincher's ZODIAC.  Again . . . .or not.  But you may see now how many different angles the film manages to juggle and pull off well.  Laurin is our titular heroine:  a young girl growing up in a (I presume German) port town in a house in the woods along with her father Arne, her mother Flora and wheelchair-bound grandmother Olga.  Arne is a sailor who is often away for months at a time and he is off to sea again.  Flora walks Arne down to the harbour to see him off under the darkening skies of an impending storm.  Night falls and the storm breaks as Flora makes her way home . . .only she never gets there; she is discovered dead in the river.  Flora's death is put down to a terrible accident; however, other disappearances have occurred and the same night as Flora's death, Laurin glimpsed a young boy crying for help as he was being attacked by a mysterious man dressed in black.  Laurin is convinced there is an evil presence in the town; a feeling strengthened when another boy named Stefan disappears.

LAURIN is a gorgeously-photographed film by Nyika Jancsó with a wide colour palette depending on what is required:  a muted pallet for grey overcast skies, a warm orange glow for candlelit interiors, vibrant green in the dense forest or deep, saturated shadows for night scenes and vibrant red lighting for scenes of danger.  The film is truly a masterclass in cinematography.  The direction by Robert Sigl is deliberate and Peter Weiresque as the foreboding tale unfolds.  I also must bring up the masterful use of sound by István Wolf which creates quite a few jump scares which do not feel cheap or lazy but earned. 

At first, you might think that watching the film in German with subtitles would be the proper thing to do; however after about 10 minutes I noticed that all the actors mouths were speaking English so I switched to the English soundtrack.  Curioser and curioser.  In fact, this movie was full of surprises as I bought the German blu ray clearly labelled 'Region B' but, when I accidentally put it in my US blu ray player, it played!!!  Dóra Szinetár as Laurin isn't really the best child actor in the world but she is perfectly fine in what she is given to do; she has very little dialogue and most of her performance is in her eyes and her impassive gaze which convey exactly what the film needs.  Brigitte Karner as Flora Karner has limited screen time due to her early exit but she is excellent in portraying melancholy and genuine affection for her daughter - - - and she's the spitting image of Kate Nelligan which is OK by me!  Károly Eperjes is excellent as the town's new schoolteacher (and son of the town parson) Mr. Van Rees while Hédi Temessy is quite good as grandma Olga.