November

beautiful experience!

A great Black And White Picture, Nice universe, mytology...

And a simple but amazing love story

Although it's a somewhat difficult film to analyse (folk horror, love, spiritual, pagan, fairy tale surrealist fable) it is worth watching if only for the black and white visuals. It's one of the most beautifully photographed films I've ever seen.

Ratify movie to look at. Enjoyed it much more the second time e around.

I'm going to get the only compliment out of the way now, because I am about to rail against this movie hard.
November is shot in beautiful black and white, and every frame of it could be hung in a museum. And that's it!

I'm going to presume the movie is a period piece, but I'm not sure, it's never stated when this takes place. For all I know, this could just be what present-day life is like in Estonia.
The... plot... doesn't make sense - of course: we have a small village whose people are very superstitious, we have unexplained ghosts early on - then they never show up again - we also have a crossroads Devil, and the insane doctor from _The Human Centipede_.
Another, more prominent, part of the story are kratts. What is a kratt? Well, they seem to be sentient farm equipment or just slaves made from organic material. Why? Because reasons.
The movie has a very flat tone of being nothing and nowhere, just like _The Lighthouse_. In fact, it's way too much like _The Lighthouse_. I had to check to see if it was made by the same director - it's not. Just like that film, I don't get if this is supposed to be funny or dead serious. Maybe I just don't understand Estonian humor. Looking at all the genre tags here, I get why they would be suggested, yet none really apply. This is not a horror movie, not a romance, not a comedy, barely a drama. Don't be fooled. Unless you're big into arthouse cinema, stay away - or just watch the trailer.

The problem I have with _November_ is the same problem I have with all art films: it's style over substance, which, oddly, seems to be what that crowd likes about the sub genre. Fantastic, but you know, it's not one or the other; you can have both. I just have to stare blankly at an entire group of films that are beautiful on the outside, but empty inside, with nothing else to offer. If that's not shallow, I don't know what is. Good in small doses. If the director made a music video, I'd love it, but I don't need two hours of nonsense set in motion.

Finally, the movie features many domestic animals. As far as I can tell, none of them were hurt. An already-dead chicken was plucked. What I am unsure of was the opening shot with a calf: difficult to tell if he was actually being suspended or if it was CG.