- Release year: 2015
- Director: Robert Eggers.
- Producers: Daniel Bekerman, Lars Knudsen, Jodi Redmond, Rodrigo Teixeira, and Jay Van Hoy.
- Screenplay by: Robert Eggers.
- Cinematography by: Jarin Blaschke.
- Music by: Mark Korven.
Synopsis: a family of Puritans in 1630s New England get exiled from their community and try to survive by themselves, settling next to an eerie forest.
Shotgun Commentary: an alright witch-themed movie.
Review
The VVitch: A New-England Folktale is the type of film that everyone seems to have watched. It has been recommended to me to the point of exhaustion, and finally, I have got around to watching it. The results are not as terrible as I expected but also not as wondrous as described to me.
The story follows a couple with four children and a baby. The baby disappears out of nowhere one day, which leads the family to think the witch of the woods took it, even though they only blame a potential wolf out loud. Guided by the most useless and pusillanimous father since Homer Simpson, the family starves after months with no edible crops and no prey hunted whatsoever. Tensions rise, and soon enough accusations of witchcraft begin to be thrown around.
The new witch in town
As far as witch movies go, this is not bad at all. Forget about official witch trials or whimsical Practical Magic vibes, and think more, “Let’s see how much Cinderella can take until she snaps.” Cinderella, in this case Thomasin (Anya Taylor-Joy), cooks and cleans for the whole family while receiving nothing but contempt from her mother and proper Disney step-sister behaviour from her younger siblings, two abhorrent twins whose necks you want to snap from the very beginning of the film.
Joy’s performance is shockingly great. This might come from the deep-seated trauma at her embarrassingly dreadful performance in Split (2016) and Glass (2019), but yours truly kinda always expects the worst from her, especially when the role happens to be pre-2016. Luckily enough, my suspicions were proven wrong, as she actually delivers a wonderful performance from beginning to end.
As expected from an Eggers film, the representation of the period is quite accurate, avoiding anachronistic fictional fancies and even using an older, but still understandable, version of English for the characters to speak. Also surprising no one, the photography is breathtaking. Undersaturation really suits early modern Europe, echoing the sense of being close to death at all times, with pale-greyish skins tinted with dark grime and soil, and Thomasin’s almost white hair contrasting that of Black Phillip, the goat (literally).
All in all, The VVitch: A New-England Folktale is a beautiful coming-of-age(?) story with a riveting narrative. If you happen to like all things mediaeval, do give this a chance!
Advice to take from this movie:
- Live deliciously, always.
- It is alright to be unruly, no matter what the Man says.
- Sometimes a girl just needs to befriend a goat.
What’s your take? Have you watched The VVitch: A New-England Folktale? Don’t hesitate to let me know your thoughts in the comments section below, or leave a message on my contact page! For more reviews and cinema-related articles, check out the rest of my blog! 😀