Twilight of the Ice Nymphs

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source: Twilight of the Ice Nymphs

Twilight of the Ice Nymphs

I CAN'T BELIEVE this was produced in 1997. This is worse than the old 80's fantasy/adventure movies. The production quality and acting leave a LOT to be desired. Very low quality production - worse than I expected for the late 90s. Not even wide-screen!

This surreal fairytale setting and the campy dialogue doesn't sustain for a full 90 minutes. You are swept away during the first half on heavy soft filtered images with exploding colors but soon come to shore as the movie winds down, getting us all ready for bed.

This movie is really odd. I saw this movie when it previewed in Dallas Texas at the AMC movie theaters, Shelly Duvall was there in person. . A very nice lady. After the movie ran, she walked to the front of the theater to talk about the film. The host or interviewer said 'I have a question, Shelly? What was that?" She looked very embarrassed and said " Well, i guess this is the kind of movie you do for experience.' Yeah. as if this seasoned actress needs the experience. anyway I felt sorry for her as she was being told what the audience had experienced was a very strange film that was not all that great. All i have to say is there is a lot of beauty in the film, though it is kind of odd. i didn't really like or dislike the film. It was sort of a fairy tale gone to mars or something.-Thanks.-

I have a real soft spot for this strange little gem. It is garish, lush, stilted and artificial, with moments of heartbreaking beauty. It hearkens back to the grandeur of Hollywood of old, and yet is alive with a sort of mischevious irony, and a perverse love of the heavy handed gesture. All the actors do serviceable work, but my particular favourite is Alice Kreig's Zephyr. That woman is just remarkably charismatic, and her voice....my stars. This is fairly typical of Guy Maddin's bizzarre and wonderful work. Same sense of humour, same painstakingly textured(and hopelessly unnatural) sound editing, and same passionate love affair with the cinematic conventions of yesteryear. If you like this, Careful, Archangel, and Tales of the Gimli Hospital might be to your taste as well. Easily the finest movie I've ever seen about mesmerism and ostrich farming. 9/10.

Spoilers perhaps. This is a wonderful movie that plays like a poem. The color is strong and overbearing. The situations are odd and dreamy. The characters are Fellini-esque and lovely. The DVD commentary on this film is very information and heck, I just like to hear Guy Maddin talk. His idea of metaphor like when the shovels are hovering by the girl's head in one scene is both sick and funny. If you like interesting directors like Lynch, The Brothers Quay, Cocteau or Hitchcock, Maddin is the guy for you. I have a goal to watch all his films, both long and short. I am so addicted to his work, I am so surprised to find only a few comments here about this film. Maddin should be more known! I love his use of older technique and Victorian/silent movie values with a modern twist.