1st watched 12/06/2001 - 8 out of 10(Dir-Craig Richardson): Very interesting narrative about a couple of documentary filmmakers who begin to make a movie on taxidermists, but then run across a nazi war criminal who is a legendary taxidermist who is living in a secluded country home with his wife(as well as stuffed & living loved pets). It's interesting to keep watching this movie despite it's slow pace because you become further and further involved in the story each step of the way. The movie is about many things; the love between the old man and his wife and how it endured, the cutthroat style of the filmmakers trying to get all they could for money, the simplistic yet full lifestyle of the couple as they kept busy with taxidermy, as well as creating a play with dolls just for their own healing(to recreate their experiences with the nazi's in Germany) and the filmmaker's mysterious style where we as the viewer keep wondering where it's going to lead us. The only real downfall in my opinion is the humorous accounts of other taxidermist's which kind of take us away from the serious story that was mentioned previously. There is a website that labeled this as a horror film which it is not. This is a serious drama about life & death which questions us about how it should be pursued. Bravo that this layed-back independent film is found on DVD(It should be preserved for awhile and watched by many)!!
5 Reviews
Unusual piece
rhondasmit15 August 2011
Warning: Spoilers
I must have seen a different movie than most reviewers. It is a quiet little film, with too much piled on at the ending, so the pacing is a little off. My copy has atrocious sound, the conversations are almost impossible to understand.
Yes, it begins with a documentary filmmaker working on a film about body preservation, taxidermy, mummification, cryopreservation etc. An ace taxidermist (Sam) is traced by the film's maker and interviewed. Sam lives with Iris as recluses in the woods, where the couple enact a strange play with taxidermied animals and marionettes. The woman plays the score on cello. When the play is finished, so is her life. Into this strange setting the documentary filmmaker stumbles...
Spoilers:
Clearly there were no Nazis hiding in the woods. The woman cellist has a concentration camp number tattooed on her arm. That pretty much excludes her from having been a Nazi. The man recounts that he was a marionette maker who was conscripted by Nazis to make prosthetics. He then made an artificial foot/leg for a Jewish boy (brought to him for unknown reasons by a SS officer). Somehow he escaped with the boy and the woman to the US. There the boy was taunted by neighbors and pushed off a cliff into a pond. The boy pulled one of his attackers over the edge with him, and both boys drowned. The other boy was imprisoned, to return decades later as the redneck living in the RV near the couple's home.
The townspeople are sympathetic to the couple, which they wouldn't be if they were simply Nazi hideouts or weirdos.
I wish the central story of the couple's life and loss, their pact etc., would have been the focus of the film, not the filmmaker or his inane piece on taxidermy.
Yes, it begins with a documentary filmmaker working on a film about body preservation, taxidermy, mummification, cryopreservation etc. An ace taxidermist (Sam) is traced by the film's maker and interviewed. Sam lives with Iris as recluses in the woods, where the couple enact a strange play with taxidermied animals and marionettes. The woman plays the score on cello. When the play is finished, so is her life. Into this strange setting the documentary filmmaker stumbles...
Spoilers:
Clearly there were no Nazis hiding in the woods. The woman cellist has a concentration camp number tattooed on her arm. That pretty much excludes her from having been a Nazi. The man recounts that he was a marionette maker who was conscripted by Nazis to make prosthetics. He then made an artificial foot/leg for a Jewish boy (brought to him for unknown reasons by a SS officer). Somehow he escaped with the boy and the woman to the US. There the boy was taunted by neighbors and pushed off a cliff into a pond. The boy pulled one of his attackers over the edge with him, and both boys drowned. The other boy was imprisoned, to return decades later as the redneck living in the RV near the couple's home.
The townspeople are sympathetic to the couple, which they wouldn't be if they were simply Nazi hideouts or weirdos.
I wish the central story of the couple's life and loss, their pact etc., would have been the focus of the film, not the filmmaker or his inane piece on taxidermy.
Good film despite some flaws
steveandlisak17 March 2003
I enjoyed watching this film even though my anticipation for what might come next was usually met with mild disappointment. The film is worth seeing definitely but some facets of it did get tiresome. The pacing was slow and while that is not a bad thing at all, the buildup at times was a bit of a let down. A mild touch of film school artiness led to some irritation or maybe I'm just stupid. I really enjoyed the marionette angle and the overall concept but could have done with a more clear telling of the story. In conclusion a good film, worth the viewing.
current topic but lack of history
odenkam12 June 2006
The movie discusses the traditions of puppets in Germany. And of course given the freeze-drying of corpses that Germany has advanced currently for artistic/museum pieces and for medical research is a current topic in this movie. It fails however in describing either the actual nazi history of the taxedermists the story is about. Leaving a lot of questions. Some nazist views are discussed such as comparisons between the greed of the movie directors and the nazists antagonism to greed without consequences. But the nazi scientist with the dead body of his wife in the end on the run in the US without any authority being involved seems a litte fantastic ending. Either way there are no clear descriptions of the actual nazi crimes committed by the scientist in Germany. In the movie it seems that all his crimes are done in America.
Dark journeys woven intricately and beautifully in a mesmerizing film.
SashaA7 August 2000
Intricately made, heartbreaking, mesmerizing. A quiet film, with powerful haunting undercurrents of holocaust nightmares. A sophisticated mystery involving intense love and dark journeys. A beautiful film with a mesmerizing soundtrack and images which remained with me for months afterwards.
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