The Juniper Tree

Keene complicates our feelings about the characters in subtle and useful ways, treating Katla in particular as something more intriguing than a garden-variety evil stepmother, even when she's serving up stew with a cannibalistic secret ingredient.

"The Juniper Tree" is absorbing enough to make one rue there weren't more.

Keene is doing the right kind of critical revisionism-reframing the uncanny, contorted alien logic of folktales within a politically updated dynamic, offering her own interpretation of an old story while honoring its lingering richness.

The subtle subversion on the story makes it a worthy watch, and not least for Björk's presence as the affectional center of a stone-cold world.

The Juniper Tree can be a bit sluggish and redundant...but it only grows richer and more revolutionary as it goes along...

The movie has a style that doesn't partake of the anticipated influences - you might expect resonances of Ingmar Bergman or Carl Dreyer, but "The Juniper Tree," which was shot in English, has a voice all its own.

Not only does Keene’s film contain truly haunting imagery, she beautifully captures the vastness of coastal Iceland

It happens to be the debut of genre-bending, experimental pop music artist, Björk, and whilst that is enough of a hook for many...the last thing this film should be remembered as is trivia.

An experimental, hypnotic and surreal piece. [Full review in Spanish]

Its fantastical elements presented in very matter-of-fact terms, The Juniper Tree is a slowly paced work of gentle faith in powers beyond the visible...