No, that is not a typo...
That is genuinely how the name of this film is spelled. The VVitch, I think it's still supposed to be pronounced Witch, but all I can think of is 'vuh-vuh-itch', so yeah. I actually saw this film in the most expensive London cinema, with the most pompous food choices, I have ever had the misfortune to frequent, yep. I really disliked this one when I saw it, but after my second viewing of Salo, and how much my views had changed, I thought maybe this would be the same. Buuuuuuuuut no.
The VVitch is so frustrating for me, because, on paper, I should adore it, and everyone else seems to, but I just can't, so here is an attempt of me trying to explain exactly why that is.
The VVitch looks gorgeous and I mean that. You can tell that so much thought was put into every shot, and every sound. The costumes and setting look authentic, and the viewer is transported back to America in the 1630s. There's not a lot of cheap looking CGI, because low budget films tend to stay away from it, because it's expensive, and that lends well to keep it looking authentic. It's also got a beautiful location, with a forest that really does look quite sinister. The score is used fantastically, and is great to set the tone of the film, in places it is incredibly creepy. There are some creepy and disturbing scenes, one being the mother and the raven, and the other, the old lady who decides she needs to be naked. Not sure if the latter was meant to be disturbing though.
The scripting is pretty good, using fairly realistic dialogue from the time, but that can make the film more difficult to understand. Unfortunately, the volume difference between speech and music was so great, that I couldn't hear what people were saying without upsetting my neighbours, and had to resort to subtitles.
The acting was incredibly hit and miss, Anya Taylor-Joy was great as Thomasin, a confused, innocent young girl accused of witchcraft after a silly joke, and both the parents, played by Ralph Ineson and Kate Dickie, performed their roles hauntingly well. Annoyingly, Ralph Ineson is also the voice of Dacia, so that familiar voice detracted from the feel of the film. The children were all very 'child actor-y' and every second they spent on screen was incredibly over the top and irritating as hell. There was a cute baby and a dog for a bit, but not long.
What themes are there? Well, it would seem there are a few, including religion, the persecution of innocent women as witches (specifically the Salem Witch Trials) and grief, somewhere in there. But none of these themes are fully explored, never mind information being spoon fed, if The VVitch were a horror game, you'd have to collect every collectable in the game, then come to your own conclusion about the content of those collectables. It is the vaguest film I've seen since Eraserhead.
Then there's the pacing, oh the pacing. Take the slowest burner you know, then slow it down twice, and you have this film. Even when things happen, you don't really notice, because you're bored. I'm not sure if anything actually happened in this film, I know some people died, but in between that, you get lots of talking, and a goat called Black Phillip and a rabbit. It may be symbolism, but nothing is explained, so you know. There isn't really much of a pay off for all this waiting around either, a couple of dull deaths, a really 'out there' scene, and then it, thankfully, ends. The VVitch felt about 3 hours long, but it is less than half of that!
So, finally, The VVitch has a silly title, was massively over-hyped and overrated, it doesn't explore any themes with enough vigour for the average viewer to understand, but it looks lovely, sounds pretty good, and has some fantastic performances. In my personal opinion, it is style over substance, which is a shame, because with a better use of time, it could have explored some very interesting themes, especially womanhood and witches in the 1600s. I can't recommend this, but many will, and if anyone has any enlightening comments or knowledge, especially about the themes, please let me know, because maybe I just didn't get this one...
4/10
That is genuinely how the name of this film is spelled. The VVitch, I think it's still supposed to be pronounced Witch, but all I can think of is 'vuh-vuh-itch', so yeah. I actually saw this film in the most expensive London cinema, with the most pompous food choices, I have ever had the misfortune to frequent, yep. I really disliked this one when I saw it, but after my second viewing of Salo, and how much my views had changed, I thought maybe this would be the same. Buuuuuuuuut no.
The VVitch is so frustrating for me, because, on paper, I should adore it, and everyone else seems to, but I just can't, so here is an attempt of me trying to explain exactly why that is.
The VVitch looks gorgeous and I mean that. You can tell that so much thought was put into every shot, and every sound. The costumes and setting look authentic, and the viewer is transported back to America in the 1630s. There's not a lot of cheap looking CGI, because low budget films tend to stay away from it, because it's expensive, and that lends well to keep it looking authentic. It's also got a beautiful location, with a forest that really does look quite sinister. The score is used fantastically, and is great to set the tone of the film, in places it is incredibly creepy. There are some creepy and disturbing scenes, one being the mother and the raven, and the other, the old lady who decides she needs to be naked. Not sure if the latter was meant to be disturbing though.
The scripting is pretty good, using fairly realistic dialogue from the time, but that can make the film more difficult to understand. Unfortunately, the volume difference between speech and music was so great, that I couldn't hear what people were saying without upsetting my neighbours, and had to resort to subtitles.
The acting was incredibly hit and miss, Anya Taylor-Joy was great as Thomasin, a confused, innocent young girl accused of witchcraft after a silly joke, and both the parents, played by Ralph Ineson and Kate Dickie, performed their roles hauntingly well. Annoyingly, Ralph Ineson is also the voice of Dacia, so that familiar voice detracted from the feel of the film. The children were all very 'child actor-y' and every second they spent on screen was incredibly over the top and irritating as hell. There was a cute baby and a dog for a bit, but not long.
What themes are there? Well, it would seem there are a few, including religion, the persecution of innocent women as witches (specifically the Salem Witch Trials) and grief, somewhere in there. But none of these themes are fully explored, never mind information being spoon fed, if The VVitch were a horror game, you'd have to collect every collectable in the game, then come to your own conclusion about the content of those collectables. It is the vaguest film I've seen since Eraserhead.
Then there's the pacing, oh the pacing. Take the slowest burner you know, then slow it down twice, and you have this film. Even when things happen, you don't really notice, because you're bored. I'm not sure if anything actually happened in this film, I know some people died, but in between that, you get lots of talking, and a goat called Black Phillip and a rabbit. It may be symbolism, but nothing is explained, so you know. There isn't really much of a pay off for all this waiting around either, a couple of dull deaths, a really 'out there' scene, and then it, thankfully, ends. The VVitch felt about 3 hours long, but it is less than half of that!
So, finally, The VVitch has a silly title, was massively over-hyped and overrated, it doesn't explore any themes with enough vigour for the average viewer to understand, but it looks lovely, sounds pretty good, and has some fantastic performances. In my personal opinion, it is style over substance, which is a shame, because with a better use of time, it could have explored some very interesting themes, especially womanhood and witches in the 1600s. I can't recommend this, but many will, and if anyone has any enlightening comments or knowledge, especially about the themes, please let me know, because maybe I just didn't get this one...
4/10
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