We usually stick to U.S. Latino productions, but sometimes a piece of work from “the old country” is so beautiful you just can’t pass it up. That’s certainly the case with Blancanieves, written and directed by Pablo Berger and starring Maribel Verdú, Ángela Molina, Daniel Giménez Cacho. This multi-award-winning black-and-white fantasy has been making a huge impact on the film festival circuit for a couple of years now; on Friday March 15 it begins a limited theatrical run.
This re-telling of Snow White is set in a romanticized 1920s Seville. Snow White is the daughter of a famous bull fighter, who lives under the tyrannical rule of her evil stepmother (they’re timeless!) and escapes to join a troupe of bullfighting dwarves–no, really–where “her beauty and natural talent in the ring attract notices from the press.” But soon the news reaches E.S.M., who wastes no time in coming after her.
Bullfighting dwarves notwithstanding, this is a beautiful film and strangely hypnotic. Take a look at the trailer below.