Yet another stab at making a contemporary adult (as in intended audience not porn) version of the Grimm brothers' fairy tales. Past efforts have gone in two directions - a focus on the psychosexual dimensions as in Neil Jordan's IN THE COMPANY OF WOLVES or emphasize the trashy, lurid aspects as in Matthew Bright's FREEWAY. Or do both like in Francois Ozon's LES AMANTS CRIMINELS. GRIMM hints at both but ends up going in neither. It's just way too restrained for its own good. 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.
Review of Grimm
