Valley of Shadows

A slowly unfolding gothic mood piece about a young rural boy trying to come to grips with the disappearance of his older brother, his mother's despair & struggles, and a series of savage sheep maulings in his farming community. Low on dialogue, but full of mist, towering environmental symbols, mystery and omens, this quietly moving examination of childhood confusion and grief might have been more bluntly entitled, "Is My Brother a Werewolf?"!

The ending of this movie is profound. I think that it goes to the movie which it looks at the viewpoint and thought of the young child. The quality of the sound film was very good, and I was immersed and did not know how long it was going. I am very satisfied.

This film blew my away. People don't understand metaphysical cinema. It's a transcendental masterpiece.

6-year old Aslak lives with his mother in a rural town in Norway. Through Aslak's friend we learn that something has been brutally killing the farmers' sheep. Caught in a mix of family secrets and small town struggles, Aslak finds himself drawn into the dense woods behind his house.

Together with Aslak, our young protagonist, we explore the great unknown though the eyes of a child lost in the woods. Danger and curiosity go hand in hand as the movie unfolds. What is real and what isn't? There is something beautifully innocent in looking to nature for answers we cannot comprehend.

It's the mood of the film and the striking visuals, the uncertainty and the looming sense of foreboding, accompanied by eerily beautiful music, that makes Valley of Shadows thoroughly intriguing.

Valley of Shadows is thought provoking with a chilling, fairy-tale like aesthetic that is truly beautiful, while being, at it's core, a movie about a struggling family with their own traumas and secrets.

Plot-heavy would not be a correct description of this moody, introspective piece by Norwegian first-time director Jonas Matzow Gulbrandsen. Although founded in a realistic universe and a Northern-European drama tradition, the film balances constantly and rather elegantly on the line to the supernatural, and Gulbrandsen's real trick here, and the film's best asset, is the way serious, grown-up matters are viewed through the eyes of the six year old lead-character. The filmmakers skilfully use the camera to take the big, scary world in through the eyes of the child, and demonstrate that we must all interpret, process and ultimately come to terms with events in our lives utilizing our own level of experience. In other words: Life must be lived by no other than yourself. It's relatable stuff for anyone who has been a child, even those who had forgotten how it was. Skyggenes dal is a slow-moving and in many ways uneventful film that may not catch the interest of everyone, but it's made with considerable amounts of thoughtfulness and flair by a clearly talented filmmaker. Worth a watch.