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The Juniper Tree (film)
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Wikipedia article
'The Juniper Tree' is a 1990 Icelandic medieval fantasy drama film written and directed by Nietzchka Keene. Based on the Brothers Grimm fairy tale "The Juniper Tree", the film was shot in black-and-white in a small budget in 1986. It stars Bjrk Gumundsdttir, Bryndis Petra Bragadttir, Gurn Gsladttir, Valdimar rn Flygenring and Geirlaug Sunna ormar.
'The Juniper Tree' premiered at the 1990 Sundance Film Festival, where it was selected to compete for the Grand Jury Prize Dramatic.
Plot
In Iceland, two sisters, Margit and her elder sister Katla, escape their home after their mother is stoned and burned for witchcraft. They go where no one knows them, and find Jhann, a young widower who has a son called Jnas. Katla uses magical powers to seduce Jhann and they start living together.
Margit and Jnas become friends. However, Jnas does not accept Katla as his stepmother and tries to convince his father to leave her. Katla's magic power is too strong and even though he knows he should leave her, he can't. Margit's mother appears to her in visions and Jnas' mother appears as a raven and to bring him a magical feather. Eventually, Katla kills the boy by challenging him to jump off a cliff to prove his mother will save him. Margit figures out what her sister has done but remains silent.
One day, she hears a bird sing and thinks it is Jnas returned. She tells Jhann this and states that her sister did not mean to kill his son. Katla runs away leaving Margit to live with Johann. Eventually, Johann also leaves and Margit is left to console herself by creating folklore-type stories about birds.
Cast
* Bjrk Gumundsdttir as Margit
* Bryndis Petra Bragadttir as Katla
* Gurn Gsladttir as Margit and Katla's mother
* Valdimar rn Flygenring as Jhann
* Geirlaug Sunna ormar as Jnas
Production
Principal photography took place in 1986 in Iceland with a low-budget. It was shot in black and white to highlight its dramatic content and as a resource to place the story in the Middle Ages. Some scenes were filmed at the Reynisfjara basalt columns and the Seljalandsfoss waterfall on the south coast of Iceland.
Release
Due to financial problems, the film did not see distribution until 1990, when it competed for the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival. It was restored to 4K resolution by the Center for Film & Theatre Research, Wisconsin, premiering at the AFI Fest on 10 November 2018. It saw a limited theatrical release on 15 March 2019.
Rhino Home Video released the film on VHS in 1995 and on DVD in 2002.
Critical reception
On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 100% based on 20 reviews, with an average rating of 7.80/10. On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 86 out of 100, based on 6 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".Glenn Kenny from 'The New York Times' praised Keene's direction and Bjrk's "enchanting" performance. David Ehrlich of 'IndieWire' gave the film "B+" and wrote "A wonderful performance from a 21-year-old Bjrk is one of many reasons to see Nietzchka Keene's newly restored medieval fantasy."
References
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