Tale of Tales

The only thing keeping it from perfection is a more expressive musical score and more spectacular set design. Script-wise, it's quite bold and coolly avoids schematic fairy tale narratives, which I definitely applaud. There is some tasteless nudity here and there (slightly evoking East German porn of the 80s), but it's probably worth noting that this depiction actually fits the overall decadent concept quite well. Original and self-conscious, quite non-mainstream, and wacky. Still, quite watchable. (09/25/2020)

For a first, pretty functional – I laughed and cringed in disgust at the giant flea, slapped my head in amusement at the old man's beauty parlor, and squirmed in disgust at the giant bat. It's just that the film is insanely uncreative. By literally re-writing uncompromising fairy tales with minimal creative input, the entire work makes it impossible to cultivate any empathy for anything in the viewer. In fact, thanks to its static form, it serves exclusively as an illustration, where on the one hand it fascinates with its down-to-earth modern rawness and brutality, while on the other hand it retains its fairy-tale hyperbole in all other respects. It's as if, at the end of Šafránková’s Cinderella, we had close-ups of her stepsisters cutting off their heels and chopping off their toes to fit into the slipper. In other words, this latter-day Pan's Labyrinth just doesn't behave. (09/03/2015)

That would be a return of great Italian filmmaking, moreover with well-known faces of the world's film industry? At first glance, I thought it would be a cheap affair without any originality, but this is beautifully visually processed, furthermore with the essence of real fairy tales, that is, horror stories that people have loved and still love. Unbelievable surprise. (09/10/2015)

This fairy tale that is one of the best has an obvious (and thanks to Desplat also in terms of voice) potential to become another annual regular Christmas favorite movie. However, exclusively on Czech TV art channel, because the slow-paced local settings carefully follow the style of the originals of even today well-known fairy tales, which certainly were neither too kind nor easy to watch. And it is exactly this true (dark) not glamorized and horror-like side that is as fascinating (especially with regard to the amazing visual qualities) that makes it really hard for a conservative family to gather and watch it together without any harm. (08/30/2015)

(50th KVIFF) A unique spectacle. A beautifully narrative film with breathtaking visuals, where in one moment you’ll be so surprised and dazzled by the beauty captured on screen that you won’t be able to look away. At times a cracking comedy that made the whole theatre burst in laughter, at times a brutal and scary horror flick. I don’t know which of the three stories I liked best because each one has something going for it. The Neapolitan fairy-tales are quite something. 85 % (07/11/2015)