Film Review – Tale of Tales

The latest effort from Italian director Matteo Garrone (“Gomorrah,” “Reality”), “Tale of Tales” endeavors to bring a world of fairytales to the screen, but these aren’t your usual stories of extraordinary events and eccentric characters. Inspired by Giambattista Basile’s 17th century work, “Pentamerone,” Garrone goes wild with “Tale of Tales,” hitting macabre highs with his carefully composed look at the mad passions of queens, monsters, and the desperately lonely. It’s a vividly crafted picture, with stunning technical achievements and startling turns of plot, but Garrone’s real accomplishment is his ability to conjure an authentic storybook atmosphere, with the various segments of the movie retaining their literature inspiration while generating pure cinema. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com