The Juniper Tree

If you are looking for a film to match the original Brother's Grimm version of "The Juniper Tree" This movies depiction comes close but is still not accurate. Aside from the slow motion pace and bizarre images this story has little to do with Grimm's tale. Rather we get a deeper insight into ancient Witchcrafts and the repercussions of Spells used against their targets. On one hand the Icelandic scenery is captivating ,while on the other it leaves the viewer rather mystified . The rugged landscapes make it impossible to imagine how anyone could make a living among the rocky infertile Soils and Volcanic sulfur where these characters reside. After all is said and done its the closest rendition we might ever get to the Brothers Grimm tales.Unfortunately it didn't impress me much and left much more to be desired. Its close but still no Cigar!

Watching "The Juniper Tree" amounts to a mystical and meditative journey that invokes a state of quiet reverie. While one is invariably left at a loss to express a complete understanding of what they have just witnessed, the resulting mystery only enhances the wondrous spell that the film casts on the viewer. The stylistic and thematic qualities of the film converge to produce an experience of stark and simple purity, enhanced by the always effective aesthetic of breathtaking black and white. We are captivated as though witnessing a faerie tale that may at any moment stun us with the kinds of magical and terrifying developments possible only in the world of fables and lore, and Keene ultimately achieves success through the rare evocation of what filmmaker Werner Herzog refers to as "ecstatic truth." In other words, the spectral qualities of Keene's fantasy world directly reflect the underlying mysteries of our own, and we are left contemplating a story that has enlightened us with its poetic take on life itself.

Beautiful, Bjork is extraordinary and the landscapes from Iceland are hypnotic. The best movie I ve seen in a long time

Imaginative and intelligent re-interpretation of the Brothers Grimm fairy tale convinces with beautiful b/w photography and a wonderful performance by Björk.

A Brothers Grimm fairy story told through a feminist lens by subverting the archetype of the "evil stepmother". Although Brothers Grimm tales were collected from Western Europe, the details are reworked to fit in the Icelandic setting. Keene is doing something here with domestic scenes: we see all of the household labor being done by the women, who also have to put up with the men's fragile egos. While it turns out the little boy was right about his new mother practicing witchcraft, the film is ambivalent about whether the spells are effective or not. A lot of the scenes show people sleeping and lying in bed, which doesn't make for riveting cinema. However, it's really neat that the interiors were historically accurate since they used rooms at Icelandic museums. There's an incredibly gorgeous scene when Bjork is wandering into the spirit world down a path with waterfalls. I admit I watched this because Bjork was in it.

FINALY I HAVE THIS ONE !!

Slow paced, black and white Icelandic movie, loosely based on the Grimm's fairy tale of The Juniper Tree, in which the evil stepmother kills the young son of her husband, puts him in her soup and lets the father eat from it. The sister finds bones in the soup and buries them under the juniper tree. Eventually the boy returns as a bird (but the last part of the tale, in which the boy has his revenge, is missing in the movie). The main attraction in this film is the younger of the two sisters, played by Björk.

An Icelandic homage to just about everything in the genre, that is, other than good acting.

Watched it because of DANCER IN THE DARK, huge disappointment. These were some boring ass witches.

Anything with Bjork is instantly AWESOME but this movie started out painfully slow. The movie however warmed up toward the middle and revealed that there were 2 witches (that practiced some amazing old time country dweller type magic) and one was good and one was evil. I won't get into which was which. You'll have to find out for yourself! This was EVEN before the Sugar Cubes. That's hot.