Movie Review: "Gretel & Hansel" (2020)
Do you know what the best part about the classic fairy tales is? It’s the way we got the watered-down, Disney centered versions when we were growing up, many of us not realizing how much darker they were. That leaves you room to really ruminate on just how fucked up the stories actually are and seek out the Grimm’s Fairy Tales. If it’s not in your library, you are definitely missing out on the real deal.
That seems to be the idea behind director Oz Perkins’ big-screen adaptation of the classic tale of Hansel and Gretel. His version is renamed Gretel & Hansel, and that subtle name change tells you a lot about where you’re headed.
You know the story- Gretel (Sophia Lillis; It, It: Chapter Two) and her little brother, Hansel (Samuel Leakey) are cast out into the deep, dark woods by their mother when she can no longer care for them. Starving and disoriented, they run across the home of a witch named Holda (Alice Krige; Star Trek: First Contact) living all alone in the middle of the woods. Her home is laden with all sorts of food that she couldn’t possibly have every day, and the children are more than welcome. What could possibly be wrong with that?
Naturally, there are wrinkles thrown in this extremely dark version of the story for 2020, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Sophia Lillis is perfect for a Gretel who’s now the center of the story. She’s a powerhouse already at this early stage of her career, and she plays the part of the young woman charged with a young life and the responsibility of what is essentially motherhood with deftness. This is very much a woman’s story, both for Gretel and Holda the Witch, with the theme of a female’s power and their burden to bear being at the heart of it all. That’s what makes this story live and breathe, and it’s damn good stuff.
That being said, Gretel & Hansel is one of those movies that goes for such a striking and artsy look to the period piece style that something is lost in the narrative. There are periods of understated acting leading to pacing drag that aren’t interminable but are highly noticeable and will lose some people. It’s a trade-off, really- you get a film that is almost shockingly gorgeous in its sheer bleakness and woodsy atmosphere of terror, but at times it’s so slow and quiet that you fight sleep. It’s become something of a hallmark of films of this ilk- The Witch and The Nightingale are great examples.
You can’t argue the atmosphere and creep factor on display in Gretel & Hansel. It’s downright unnerving. Alice Krige makes the hair on your arms stand up. The color palette is perfection, and the score is a thing of subtle beauty. And still you are treated to a handful of standout scenes of pure horror that are a joy to behold; I’m never eating a strange bounty of food ever again. That was just grotesque in the best way possible.
Ultimately, Gretel & Hansel is a tad frustrating for the watchability and pacing at times, but if you can invest yourself in the sheer atmosphere and creep factor it will more than win you over. I can’t think of a telling of this classic fairy tale that I’ve enjoyed this much.
