The Mosley Review: Gretel and Hansel
The thing about horror is that after a revolutionary turn in visual style and atmosphere has been discovered, you start to see others take on the trends. Its not a bad thing and its not always a good thing either. We all know the creepy folklore of Hansel and Gretel and how it ends, but what if someone decided to tell the darker version of the story in the way it was intended? There’s a Netflix show called Disenchantment and they took a more twisted and sometimes comical approach to the story and it was fun and what I hoped to see. Now this film goes the darker road and decides to flip things around a bit. I liked that it separated itself from other versions and decided to keep things atmospheric and uneasy. I honestly was intrigued on the direction, but I also saw where it borrowed some elements of Robert Eggers’ film The Witch.
Sophia Lillis as Gretel was good and I liked her sense of caution everywhere she went. The story was more focused her growth and I liked that different approach. Sam Leakey was good as Hansel and I truly felt like he was a brother to Gretel. The fact that Gretel is older instead of the standard twin story, adds the classic older sibling protecting the younger sibling dynamic and I liked that twist. I do wish Gretel had an accent because it is very distracting that everyone else does while she doesn’t. Alice Krige was perfectly wise and creepy as The Witch Holda. I loved the amount of patience, seduction and urgency in her voice and she makes every word exquisite to hear. Her scenes with Gretel deliver the depth of the story.
The score by Robin Coudert was cool, eerie and subtly set the tone. The visuals in the film are gorgeous and I liked that there was minimal visual effects. The film does take a minute to get into if you don’t know that it is a bit of a slow burn. I did like that the film picked up momentum shortly after we find the witch’s house. As far as folklore adaptations go, I liked this modern and creepy interpretation. I wouldn’t say that this is the most essential version to see, but it is the most ambitious take on the story.
