Capra cu trei iezi

Saw this movie at the cinema last night with my wife and we wore absolutely mesmerized by the amazing nature shots, the overall mood of this movie. I think this is more than just a horror story, it's a slice of the Romanian life in the mountains in the middle of nature.

I'd categorize this movie in the Folk Horror genre and it's a fresh approach for the romanian cinematography.

As a foreigner you will feel even more intrigued not knowing the centuries old folk story that we wore told as kids from generation to generation.

Enjoy this gem ! And remember: never open the door to a stranger, you'll never know what can happen.

In my case, the kick to see this film was the hard work , the impressive perseverance of Victor Canache to make it. A beautiful effort, two well known Romanian actors, two local boys from village offering a decent job, one , Antonio Gavrila offering a nice surprise for his good acting and inspired music and cinematography.

It is adaptation, faithfull in good way to a so familiar folk story by Ion Creanga. A story absolutely creepy in details, part of many Romanian childhood memories.

I am far to consider this film a masterpiece or be very critic about it. I am doubts than it is a real horror. Yes, the dialogue sounds not so good but , being a familiar one, it is just difficult to impress. But it represents more than good intentions. It is, in essence, a good first step , the potential of Romanian folk literature, fairy tales or balads being just generous.

Is it a orror ? I am not real convinced about this few scenes being more crowned by my smiles.

But it is more than a decent film and, for few reasons, it can be defined as temerary.

It is a honest perspective about social realities, offering decent portrait of single mother of isolated place, the realistic image of alliance relative hoping conquer the heart of widow and, rejected being, his terrible, sadistic revenge.

In some measure, the revenge, against fate, against the answer of woman affecting the ego of pretender, the revenge of painful mother are the basic pieces defining this film.

The good memory, for me, about the film, is represented by the first scenes - the fire affecting the grenary as first sign of a story of sufference.

The kids are just good, maybe better than Maia Morgenstern and Marius Bodochi, captives of their theatral skills and front to not very easy text for its stringency.

Critics - the mixture of pieces of popular clothes from different regions of Romania. The cross on wall, covered by blood and Lupul making a gesture who reminds shfeshtania in Greek Orthhodox confession , having the status very closed by blasphemia in this case.

In hort, with not so reduced reserves, a sort of well done for Victor Canache and his team, for their significant sacrifices to made this film .

The story by Creanga upon which this is based is essential reading in elementary school and a cautionary tale for children which has been adapted many times, perhaps most famously in the rock musical "Mama" (1976). This is a fond memory for many Romanians, so quite a few will be peeved to see it turned into a folk horror piece (like the infinitely worse Winnie the Pooh gore).

But I am from Transylvania and the story made sense in the past as there are many small farms scattered in the countryside which used to be targeted by thieves. Also, there are lots of stories about people turning crazy in our long winters, so this somber uptake is more on point than city dwellers may believe. We invented werewolves, after all (not vampires, they're from Serbia). The finish is how the story actually ends so it's more brutal than Little Red Riding Hood.

Maia Morgenstern is an icon of 1990s cinema, her best known film is probably "The Oak" (1992) by Lucian Pintilie but she hasn't done much in the past years, this is a great comeback for her.

Capra cu trei iezi is a romanian horror period piece featuring Maia Morgenstern and directed by Victor Canache.

This is an adaptation of the iconic fairytale from Romania 1875 by Ion Creanga. But unlike other fairytale adaptations, it's a much darker and adult take on the story.

As a drama, this movie is great. The actors bring this characthers to life in an impressive way. The movie is pretty short, each scene being relevant to the plot and I wasn't bored (almost) at all. The direction is immaculate: the editing and cinematography do a spectacular job of showing this quiet, isolated setting with a dark and misterious tone. The characthers, while barely of them likeable, have nice interactions that keep you engaged to see what will happen next

But enough with the hyperbolized praises, let's talk about the worst part of the movie: the horror element. As a horror movie, this is honestly the worst the genre has to offer. Overall tense and scary scenes are ruined by corny, out of touch editing that makes the movie feel like a parody. Characthers like Nanasu feel like carichatures, because the movie wants to take ths intimidating villain and make him some blood thristy maniac that comes off more like some Batman 1965 villain, rather than an unstoppable force. Also the characters, just like I've said, are unlikeable. And not just the villain: all of them. In this movie, unless you're a mean, grumpy person or downright a piece of trash, you have little to no power in this world. The mother is always angry and mean to her kids, sometimes even to the little kid who is presented as a pure heroic underdog. And I know that her older kids are mean pieces of rubbish too, but when they're eventually killed, it doesn't really feel like they're the victims 'cause 1. They're unlikeable, non-relatable brats and 2. They pretty much guilty of their deaths. And of course I'm sorry, but if the movie put them in a somewhat more positive spot, their deaths would've felt much sadder, since the audience had an emotional connection with them.

So yeah, it's flawed, but I don't think it's bad like others say.

Movie trigger warnings: bullying, sexism, (mild) domestic abuse, sexual assault.

Number of jumpscares: 0.5 (literally barely a jumpscare once)

Review: Honestly one of the best pieces of Romanian cinema I've seen until now, and just a really good horror/thriller movie. It captures really beautifully what it meant to live in the 19th century rural Romania, along with the accurate traditional house, cutlery and clothes.

The two main actors are absolute legends, and the kids do an amazing job.

The filming is pretty well done, with very desaturated colors pushing the difficult lifestyle of the poor family.

Editing is decent, a few fast cuts here and there, but nothing to be offended by.

Sound design is pretty good, the soundtrack being played on traditional instruments, only note would be that at times you can't hear the dialogue due to the music being quite loud.

All in all, a pretty dope watch, biases aside, a solid 8/10.