Why the beautiful fairy tale "Pinocchio" will scare even adults

On March 12, the adventure fantasy "Pinocchio" based on the classic tale by Carlo Collodi will be released in Russia. Italian director Matteo Garrone, widely known in his homeland, worked on the picture. Previously, he directed "Scary Tales" - a dark film adaptation of several medieval legends of Giambattista Basile.

Beggar master Geppetto (Roberto Benigni) carves a wooden man from a log and gives him the name Pinocchio (Federico Ielapi). But the wretch escapes almost immediately from his creator. It is not easy for Pinocchio to be obedient, he regularly follows the lead of provocateurs and crooks and succumbs to various temptations. Most of all, the hero dreams of becoming an ordinary boy, but the transformation will take place only when the doll takes up the mind.

Honest retelling, uncensored

The director himself admits that the idea of filming the next "Pinocchio" is not new. After all, the fairy tale has already been adapted for the screen many times (of course, the Disney full-length cartoon of 1940 comes to mind first). But at the same time, Garrone's picture does not contain exactly any postmodern rethinking, which is mandatory for most modern films based on magical plots. And this compares favorably with them.

Like the director's previous film, Pinocchio, for all its beauty, remains remarkably anachronistic. If you skip everything that happens through the prism of modern values, you can be surprised: after all, parents and good Samaritans (the same Talking Cricket) are far from always right, and in educational institutions they often teach nonsense. Therefore, it is better to perceive the edifying load of the picture as a tribute to the classics, and not as a guide to action in the 21st century.

But at the same time, the film can be an invaluable find for anyone who wants to get acquainted with the original "Pinocchio", not distorted by censorship.

Here it must be said that Matteo Garrone approaches the film adaptations of old fairy tales with stunning directness and does not try to soften the controversial moments. Pinocchio naturally goes through all the circles of hell: his legs are reliably burned in the fire of the hearth, he gets into the stomach of a fish, they even try to strangle him. If in the original four black rabbits promised to put Pinocchio in a small coffin for refusing to drink medicine, then in the film this scene was reproduced not only verbatim, but also as absurdly frightening and strange as possible.

Eerie and completely unthinkable images

Two-time Oscar winner, designer Mark Kuleer (The Grand Budapest Hotel, The Iron Lady) revived the fairy tale characters with the help of skillful plastic make-up. But their appearance resembles either someone's ornate fantasy, or a nightmare. Even innocent sufferers-puppets appear before the audience as ominous wooden idols, from the sight of which even adults will surely cringe in the hall. What can we say about other, even less pleasant heroes.

It must be admitted that Pinocchio is designed last for the general audience. Formally, there is nothing forbidden for children. But surely an ordinary child will be horrified by the frightening humanoid faces. Sleep deprivation is perhaps the mildest thing a sensitive young viewer can experience after viewing a painting.

Especially at this moment it is worth paying attention to parents who plan to go to the "adventure fantasy" with the whole family, but have seen only the poster. It is especially important for them to understand that they are not waiting for the funny "Pinocchio" and not Disney's cotton candy, but a rather brutal film adaptation, as intolerant as possible to a small viewer.

Contrastingly beautiful locations

The film's unsightly melancholy is strangely combined with the extraordinary beauty of Italian locations. The camera of director of photography Nicholas Bruel invites the viewer to stroll through the forest thicket and dive to the seabed, glides along the sun-drenched fields and allows the viewer to see in detail an authentic medieval city. The concentration of beauty is so great that one can only wonder at the imagination of those who created the visual frame of the picture.

Moreover, in contrast to landscapes of dazzling beauty, grotesque characters are even more confusing and frightening. As a result, everything together creates a rather strange cocktail on the screen, and it is impossible to say for sure whether the director managed to maintain harmony between its ingredients.

Pinocchio is difficult to recommend to everyone, but art lovers should definitely see it. To show an ambiguous film to children or not is a personal matter for each parent. It is possible that the younger generation will not at all understand what makes adults so confused here, because in the end, children's perception is much simpler than ours.