What is an artistic masterpiece? If you're talking about music, take a listen to Miles Davis' Bitches Brew. Looking for artistry in films? Get comfortable on your couch and check out Jean-Luc Godard's 1960 beauty Breathless, or David Lynch's 2001 mystery Mulholland Drive. Those pieces of work are artistic things of beauty. Unfortunately, 2013's The Forbidden Girl, only wishes it were. Written and directed by German Til Hastreiter, this stylishly shot film is a convoluted mess. Almost two hours in length, this movie plods along at a snails pace. There is no attempt to infuse the characters with any backstory, or understanding of what is going on. The movie treats the viewers like passerby's more than as an audience. For what it's worth, the story is centered around Toby (the capable Peter Gadiot), a young man raised by a psychopathic religious zealot father is warned that he must never love anyone. Why? I was never quite sure why. From what I could gather, Toby has been marked to be some type of evil repellent. However, Toby doesn't adhere to his father's orders and finds himself in love with a young girl named Becky (the interesting Jytte-Merle Bohrnsen). The two decide to consummate their love inside an abandoned mausoleum only to have Becky suddenly snatched away by some ominous demonic force. The next thing we know, Toby is in an insane asylum for allegedly killing his father. Things only get worse from this point. Toby is released six years later and is given the worse job in history, a tutor for a couple that would give Gomez and Letitia Addams a run for their money. Weirdness takes center stage from this point, but not good weirdness. Ghostly guys pop in and out, Toby finds a girl who is the identical twin of Becky only blonde, crazy and going by the name Laura.As I'm watching this film, I'm hoping for some revelation, some accountability to the audience as to what's going on, but this never happens. As I mentioned the movie looks great, cinematographer Tamas Kemenyffy does a great job, and would appear to have a bright future in filmmaking. The acting is better than I would have expected, and I can only imagine that with a better script they would have had some work to be proud of. The special effects weren't bad considering the budget for this film had to be miniscule. Overall, Forbidden Woman is neither artistic or scary. There are moments in this film when you can see what the director was grasping for. Unfortunately, it always managed to stay beyond his talent to obtain. Overall, I couldn't recommend this film to anyone other than an insomniac, who after a few minutes of this somniferous offering would find themselves in peaceful sleep.
... View MoreI really enjoyed this film and am amazed at its poor reviews and rating on IMDb. I think over time its rating will go up and maybe it will even achieve cult film status, I think it deserves it.For those wanting a straight horror/mystery film with a final scene that wraps up all the loose story lines then you need to go elsewhere to one of the more predictable Hollywood horror films of the moment. This film is far more reminiscent of the Italian and English horror films of the 1960's and 70's, more about the atmosphere and the visuals than following a coherent story line. The cinematography is glorious and the locations and the sets look stunning. Others have complained about the 'blue' night scenes being amateurish, I think this was the intention of the director, to make it look more stylised than a regular night shot, think Dario Argento's 'Deep Red'.The acting is fine from unknown actors; Jytte-Merle Böhrnsen is captivating as the Forbidden Girl whilst Klaus Tange plays a wonderful 1960's style baddie with blond Nazi hair.So if you love the atmospheric horror films of the 1960s and 70's then you'll love this, go on, give it a try.
... View MoreThis movie was really an uphill battle to sit through, especially because it was unbelievably slow paced and uneventful. I had to split this movie up over two days, because I literally fell asleep after the first 30 minutes of watching it, and then I decided to give the movie a second chance the next day. Picking up from where I fell asleep, but I quickly within another 15 minutes or so had to turn it off and find something else to watch.Yeah, this movie is just that dull and mind-numbing.The story is uneventful and rather mundane to say the least. And as such, then it was very hard to invest yourself into the movie or buy into it. And having this slow pace in a movie is a test for anyone watching it. I succumbed to it and just gave up.The acting was adequate. And I can't claim to have seen anyone in the movie elsewhere, so it was actually nice to see a whole new ensemble of people in a movie. Just a shame that the movie killed itself off with its downright sheer boredom."The Forbidden Girl" wasn't my cup of tea, to say the least. And I can honestly say that I will never attempt to finish it - it just lacks anything that even resembles any kind of appeal.
... View MoreI personally found this movie to be boring and very predictable. It comes off as being very amateur in most every respect possible. The movie is full of Very bad visual effects (blue filters for night scenes and what looks like a pencil drawn sky) , predictable plot lines, and very embarrassing acting make this movie not worth watching. I wouldn't recommend this movie unless you are very bored or need something to be put on the background while you work.There are some subtle nude scenes (breasts and underwear), no swearing, very little gore and some poor attempts at "creepy"It is asking me for 10 lines and there is not that much more I can really say about this movie.
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