Movie
Estonia, Netherlands
Estonian, German, Italian
Drama, Fantasy, Horror, Romance
2017
RAINER SARNET
Arvo Kukumägi, Dieter Laser, Heino Kalm
115 min
7.3
The Staff
TLDR
Honestly, if your crush isn’t willing to marry you to save your entire village from the plague, then it’s just not meant to be, girl. You deserve better.
What it's about
Estonia, 1800s. In the winter, the village tricks the Plague spirit with magic and folk remedies to leave the town alone. The second time they do so, they make a bargain with the Plague to leave a boy and girl alive to continue their village. However, village boy Hans refuses the bargain, for his love for the young German Baroness, much to the disappointment of the farmer’s daughter Liina.
The take
There’s plenty of things happening in folk horror film November. With devils snatching livestock, magical automatons called kratts, and trying to trick the Plague while in the form of a pig, love surely can’t bloom strong in these circumstances. And this would be correct, but the way this tragic romance unfolds is through eerie, yet captivating, black-and-white dream sequences made up bits and pieces of Estonian folklore, and the film shines best when focused on these sequences. The love triangle will be familiar, but the approach, the offbeat humor, and the raw practical effects would be bewitching until the end.
What stands out
The automatons are great, but the physicality Rea Lest-Liik has in transforming into a werewolf was terrifying. Also, check the credits in Wikipedia for the love story that might not have worked out in fiction, but manifested in reality.
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