Read + Write + Report
Home | Start a blog | About Orble | FAQ | Sites | Writers | Advertise | My Orble | Login
 
“Night brings terror. Strange, alien forms move restlessly across the face of the earth. Fear, horror and death follow in their wake. The sky is dark; the moon has not yet risen; the stars seem too frightened to shine ..." --- Drake Douglas (introduction to Horrors)

Horrorphile - February 2007

Grimm Love

February 23rd 2007 05:04
Grimm Love movie poster
It was inevitable that a movie would be made based on the bizarre and altogether nightmarish events that surrounded the life and times of German native Armin Meiwes.

Grimm Love, a German co-production, originally titled Butterfly: A Grimm Love Story, then re-titled Rohtenburg (after Rothenburg, the township Meiwes lived in) has been banned in Germany after courts found that Meiwes individual rights outweighed artistic freedom (he felt his deeds had been wrongly portrayed in the film).

Directed by Martin Weisz, a music clip director of more than 350 promos who has currently helmed The Hills Have Eyes II (released next month) has carved an impressive looking film. The overall, visual tone and atmosphere is dark and oppressive, eerie and dank. The cinematography looks to have been shot on HD video with the colours so muted the film looks to be in a grey-hued black and white.

Thomas Kretschmann as Oliver Hartmin
The story is told in non-linear fashion with a dual narrative; student Katie (Keri Russell) is in Germany working on a thesis about the tryst between two men, Oliver Hartmin (read: Meiwes) played by Thomas Kretschmann and Simon Grombeck (read: Bernd Brandes) played by Thomas Huber, who harboured extreme desires which culminated in a mutual agreement: Grombeck would be eaten by Hartmin.

Keri Russell as Katie Armstrong
The truth of the matter is they followed through with their secret agenda. Hartmin (aka Meiwes) was eventually caught and imprisoned. Now fictional character Katie wants to learn the dark truth behind what drove these men to this most outlandish arrangement.

Thomas Huber as Simon Grombeck
Katie visits the abandoned home of Hartmin (read: Meiwes), breaking, entering and delving into the shadowy depths of the home of the convicted cannibal. Katie’s quest is juxtaposed with Hartmin searching the Internet cannibal sites for a willing and serious victim. Katie learns of the video which Hartmin made of the slaughter. She is compelled to find a copy.

The screenplay by first-timer T.S. Faull is the most disappointing aspect of the movie. While it follows the actual case quite closely at times, it also strays, and it lacks any dramatic climax. The sub-plot of the student doing her own pseudo-investigation is pointless. In fact it’s a sheer waste of time and says very little.

A would-be victim decides its all too much to handle ...
The only interesting element to the student narrative is the pursuit of the snuff footage (Hartin/Meiwes videotaped the entire incident from penis severing through to the butchering of Grombeck’s carcass) which is fuelled by Katie’s morbid curiosity. When she finally views the tape (conveniently - and utterly implausibly – a stranger she contacts through email drops off a bootleg free of charge to her doorstep) she is appalled and distressed, so what does she do? She destroys the videotape. End of story.

It’s as if the filmmakers become shy during the course of the filmmaking. On one level the movie works as a character study of a disturbed childhood and a lonely and psychologically unhinged adulthood. But on another level it fails as a horror movie. The dramatic impact required for subject matter this extreme is simply not there.

Oliver carries Simon to the slaughter room
Grimm Love played as part of the 2007 Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras Film Festival, yet the homosexual subtext of the relationship between Hartmin and Grombeck is barely upon. In reality the two men had sex several times before they finally embarked on their baser odyssey. To be truthful the sex was never that important to either man, however, the inclusion of the movie in this particular festival was altogether very tenuous (just a passing side comment).

The acting is good, especially Kretschmann as Hartmin, while all-American Keri Russell is better than I anticipated (amusingly she’s given lots of black mascara to make her visage more Gothic).

Oliver makes the final plunge
Although the subject matter is macabre and not for the squeamish, the movie itself doesn’t feature any real gore or ultra-violence, the director even shies away from showing the severed penis – surely the movie’s most potent image! More people are likely to have their sensibilities challenged by the film’s verging on monochromatic look and insidiously morose atmosphere.

And as for the title – Grimm Love – another tenuous subtext referring to a young Oliver being read The Brothers Grimm (dark Germanic fairytale authors), which does hold some truth as Armin Meiwes did have a long-standing fondness for Hansel & Gretel and how the witch was fattening them up for her own fiendish culinary exploits.


* the movie poster image was taken from the following wikipedia page:
Rohtenburg
It is licensed under the GNU Free Document License
The other images are courtesy of www.moviereporter.net

61
Vote

   
Subscribe to this blog 


Just this blog This blog and DailyOrble (recommended)

   

   

   

[ Link ]
Posted By: Bryn - Category: No Category
Related Posts:

Comments
3 Comments. [ Add A Comment ]

Comment by JohnDoe

February 23rd 2007 23:02


Film & TV on DVD
Didn't want to read to much of this because with any luck I will see it this weekend....back soon

Comment by Cibbuano

February 26th 2007 02:43


20/20 Filmsight
Science News
Hunt Famous
Orble Post of the Day
Fat Cult
Techbreak
They didn't show the penis part? That's the main course of the whole thing!


Comment by Bryn

February 27th 2007 01:28


Horrorphile
They showed the penis part, just coyly, that's all .... It need to be much more dramatically filmed 'tis all ... and the real events didn't quite happen the way they did in the movie ...

Add A Comment

To create a fully formatted comment please click here.


CLICK HERE TO LOGIN | CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Name or Orble Tag
Home Page (optional)
Comments
Bold Italic Underline Strikethrough Separator Left Center Right Separator Quote Insert Link Insert Email
Notify me of replies
Notify extra people about this comment
Is this a private comment?
List the Email Addresses or Orble Tags of the people you would like to be notified about this comment


One per line max of 30

List the Email Addresses or Orble Tags of the people you would like to be notified about this private comment thread. Only the people in this list will be able to see or reply to your comment.


One per line max of 30

Your Name
(for the email going out to the above list, it can be different to your Orble Tag)
Your Email Address
(optional)
(required for reply notification)
Submit
More Posts
July 2008
4 Posts
June 2008
23 Posts
May 2008
23 Posts
Older Posts
411 Posts dating from August 2006
Email Subscription
Receive e-mail notifications of new posts on this blog:
0
[ View Blog Summary ] [ Create A New Post ] [ Add A Comment ]
Moderated by Bryn
Copyright © 2006 2007 2008 On Topic Media PTY LTD. All Rights Reserved. Design by Vimu.com.
On Topic Media ZPages: Sydney |  Melbourne |  Brisbane |  London |  Birmingham |  Leeds     [ Advertise ] [ Contact Us ] [ Privacy Policy ]