Wednesday, 7 September 2011

DVD review: Ondine


A fisherman finds a mysterious girl in his net. Is she a normal girl or a creature from the sea?
Neil Jordan finally goes back to the world of myth and fables more than 26 years after the wonderful “The Company of Wolves” and again he deliver a masterpiece. Among his peers he is the best at this, he get the inner meaning of these stories and deliver them so perfectly in such an effortless way that he manages to pull of the best mermaid story ever without a single CGI shot.
The story, also written by Jordan, is tight and smart. The ambiguity about the true nature of Ondine, the aforementioned girl from the sea, is maintained till the very end. He manages to make all the characters are realistic and interesting without slowing the story a single bit, no slow introduction for them, we jump straight in and we learn to know them as the story unfold.
The setting, Cork County in Ireland, Is stunning and Jordan uses it the frame and enrich every shot. I know that it sounds obvious but his younger peers, Marshall in “Centurion” and Refn in “Walhalla Rising” somehow don’t understand this simple truth.
Strong performance from everybody involved. Collin Farrel finally starts to move away from the Character that he’s been virtually playing in every movie that he made in the last five years while the titular ondine, the polish Alicja Bachleda, and the child actress Dervla Kirwan establish themselves as name to watch closely.
In the end is amazing how Jordan manages to convey the inner meaning and significance of the myth, that he really conveys that is how you see your life that matters.
A masterpiece.

No comments:

Post a Comment