Errementari is a strange film, and seems to approximate what you get when you mingle a tonality and visual style reminiscent of Guillermo Del Toro (specifically Pan's Labyrinth), an obsession with Catholic myth, and quality lower budgeted filmmaking.
Much like Pan's Labyrinth, the story centers around a girl in historical Spain (I forget when exactly, maybe 1800's? I'm a pro reviewer!) who is being raised by the minister of a small town. Her mother committed suicide shortly after she was born, and she don't believe in no Gods and Devils! On the outskirts of town, there is a blacksmith, an errementari, who, according to legend, has made a deal with the devil. The narrative goes in some pretty wild directions, and I won't spoil too much, but it turns out this is true, and he's got one of the demons under lock and key.
You can synthesize the preliminary narrative thrust here pretty well by the trailer, which appreciably does not spoil the whole movie, as many modern trailers tend to do:
The look of the film is something that comprises both a point of praise and, perhaps for some, equally a point of contention. The movie is generally very good looking, impressing the viewer with lots of deep cold blues and heated reds, and both color temperatures are imbued with an appreciable mistiness. The cinematography is quality, and the production design, especially, I found to be really impressive. Much of the time is spent in and around the blacksmith's hut, and the reliance on visual motifs like crosses and spikes both looks cool and serves the general vicious Catholic spirit that imbues the movie. What some people might take umbrage with, and may distract them, is that the devil is quite clearly a guy in a rubber devil costume. Personally, I love this choice. Whether the inspiration for it was budgetary, or simply an homage to the monster pictures of the pre-2000's, when such concessions were technically necessary for lack of computer graphics, give me a rubber costume any day. Even The Lord of the Rings knows the glory of this. The Hobbit not so much.
It's a good costume, as well. Possibly the best you could do in bringing a devil to life through latex, but it does stretch believability somewhat, and this keys into a tonal point about Errementari. Like the costume, the film rides a curious line between good cinema and a good B movie. It establishes tension fairly well throughout, with good camera work, great acting, and the aforementioned cinematography and production design, but often crosses the line into schlockier territory where the tension was surmounted by a silliness that had me either smiling or laughing. This is particularly pronounced towards the end, in a wonderful scene I won't spoil, but you'll know it when you see it.
The point here is that all things considered, the tone might not jive with some people. It's not entirely consistent, as the line is blurred between a serious narrative and fun, slightly goofy, rubber-monster elements, but I thrive in this environment. It scratches the Well Done Movie itch as much as it scratches the Reel Weirdo itch, if you get my drift, and almost feels like a remake of some classic 80's flick in some regards, right down to the plotline, which toys with revenge, redemption, damnation, and familial entwinement in a classic sense. It's very much like a weirdo fairy tale, and as easy as it is to draw Guillermo Del Toro inferences, I could just as easily see this being a movie Lucio Fulci made for 7 dollars in 1989, but resurrected by a good modern filmmaker.
FINAL TAKE: In all, I quite enjoyed my time in Errementari, although it's a little hard to know who to recommend it to. I think Pan's Labyrinth is probably a good metric, in that regard. You have a little girl facing down mythological forces, a fair degree of darkness in both the tone and narrative elements, and a tone that flits between serious and slightly silly. It must be said that this is certainly not the equal of Del Toro's masterpiece (almost nothing is), but if this sounds like it might be up your alley, I'd give it a shot. There's some really fun stuff here.
Much like Pan's Labyrinth, the story centers around a girl in historical Spain (I forget when exactly, maybe 1800's? I'm a pro reviewer!) who is being raised by the minister of a small town. Her mother committed suicide shortly after she was born, and she don't believe in no Gods and Devils! On the outskirts of town, there is a blacksmith, an errementari, who, according to legend, has made a deal with the devil. The narrative goes in some pretty wild directions, and I won't spoil too much, but it turns out this is true, and he's got one of the demons under lock and key.
You can synthesize the preliminary narrative thrust here pretty well by the trailer, which appreciably does not spoil the whole movie, as many modern trailers tend to do:
The look of the film is something that comprises both a point of praise and, perhaps for some, equally a point of contention. The movie is generally very good looking, impressing the viewer with lots of deep cold blues and heated reds, and both color temperatures are imbued with an appreciable mistiness. The cinematography is quality, and the production design, especially, I found to be really impressive. Much of the time is spent in and around the blacksmith's hut, and the reliance on visual motifs like crosses and spikes both looks cool and serves the general vicious Catholic spirit that imbues the movie. What some people might take umbrage with, and may distract them, is that the devil is quite clearly a guy in a rubber devil costume. Personally, I love this choice. Whether the inspiration for it was budgetary, or simply an homage to the monster pictures of the pre-2000's, when such concessions were technically necessary for lack of computer graphics, give me a rubber costume any day. Even The Lord of the Rings knows the glory of this. The Hobbit not so much.
It's a good costume, as well. Possibly the best you could do in bringing a devil to life through latex, but it does stretch believability somewhat, and this keys into a tonal point about Errementari. Like the costume, the film rides a curious line between good cinema and a good B movie. It establishes tension fairly well throughout, with good camera work, great acting, and the aforementioned cinematography and production design, but often crosses the line into schlockier territory where the tension was surmounted by a silliness that had me either smiling or laughing. This is particularly pronounced towards the end, in a wonderful scene I won't spoil, but you'll know it when you see it.
The point here is that all things considered, the tone might not jive with some people. It's not entirely consistent, as the line is blurred between a serious narrative and fun, slightly goofy, rubber-monster elements, but I thrive in this environment. It scratches the Well Done Movie itch as much as it scratches the Reel Weirdo itch, if you get my drift, and almost feels like a remake of some classic 80's flick in some regards, right down to the plotline, which toys with revenge, redemption, damnation, and familial entwinement in a classic sense. It's very much like a weirdo fairy tale, and as easy as it is to draw Guillermo Del Toro inferences, I could just as easily see this being a movie Lucio Fulci made for 7 dollars in 1989, but resurrected by a good modern filmmaker.
FINAL TAKE: In all, I quite enjoyed my time in Errementari, although it's a little hard to know who to recommend it to. I think Pan's Labyrinth is probably a good metric, in that regard. You have a little girl facing down mythological forces, a fair degree of darkness in both the tone and narrative elements, and a tone that flits between serious and slightly silly. It must be said that this is certainly not the equal of Del Toro's masterpiece (almost nothing is), but if this sounds like it might be up your alley, I'd give it a shot. There's some really fun stuff here.