re-animatresse this is the feature film debut of Danish director Jonas Alexander Arnby who's also, along with screenwriter Rasmus Birch, credited for the original idea. the storyline actually is fairly unique for its genre, but i don't want to give too much detail lest i spoil the mystery any further than the trailer does the story unfolds at a meandering pace, not so slowly that viewers are liable to lose interest, but the director takes his time, and it pays off nicely. the Danish seaside location is stunningly beautiful, the architecture of the small town setting distinctive and charming. the score is very fitting, slow and soft string, piano (and synth?) instrumentation, and definitely one of the strong points of the film other positives include the 'animal' design, make-up and special effects, which are simple but fantastic and contribute to what are probably the best creature transformation scenes i've seen in a movie. i have no complaints about the acting – i don't speak Danish, but the line delivery and body language sound and look natural. the dialogue and characters are well-written, and the leading character is likable and relatable i love this movie, recommend it highly, and i'll definitely keep an eye open for future projects by Jonas Arnby

thelastblogontheleft When Animals Dream, Danish director Jonas Alexander Arnby's feature film debut, is such a subtle masterpiece that I'm amazed both that it is his first full-length project and that it was hiding in plain sight on Netflix.The opening credits set the tone — gorgeous, almost surreal landscapes and moody nighttime shots that look as though we've just awoken in the pre-dawn hours, bleary- eyed and sleepy — and the film is full of so much symbolism, so many touching moments, that you forget it's horror at all.It is moody and refreshing and soft-spoken, yet bold… as much a coming-of-age story as a horror film. It deals with themes of betrayal, secrecy, grief, misogyny, sexual development, and anger.It follows Marie (a brilliant Sonia Suhl in her first role), a willowy 16-year-old living with her father (Lars Mikkelsen) and physically disabled mother (Sonja Richter) in a small fishing village in Denmark. She starts to notice some odd physical changes — a red rash here, an unusually hairy patch there — and when she is finally shown the connection between her burgeoning condition and her family, she has to make a decision about how to continue with her life…** SPOILERS! **I'm always so pleased when I stumble upon gems like this one. It had been sitting in my Netflix queue for months and I think it almost became invisible after a while… but I finally noticed it again and decided to dive in.It's not very often that you see a werewolf movie with a female werewolf, let alone one that is an adolescent girl. It is commonly — almost exclusively — a man experiencing his teeth sharpening and hair sprouting (An American Werewolf in London, Teen Wolf, Late Phases, etc). So seeing a young girl be the one undergoing the transformation — a condition passed along from her mother, leaving the man of the family as the outcast — was refreshing in a strange way.Marie's change happening in conjunction with her becoming more aware of the world around her and all of its shadows and secrets was perfect. She starts to realize how much her father and her doctor have hid from her — two older men who supposedly know best. She realizes that her mother's inability to do anything besides stare straight ahead in her wheelchair has been thrust upon her as a means of subduing her. She sees firsthand how nasty men in general can be, getting leered at by Esben (Gustav Dyekjær Giese) at the fish processing plant and later pushed into a tub of fish parts as a bizarre welcoming ritual.But she is also becoming more aware of her own sexuality, immediately setting her eyes on Daniel (Jakob Oftebro), another co-worker at the plant. Her shorter temper and increased aggression might be a symptom of her illness, but it's also a necessary factor of not taking any crap, the sole bit of parting wisdom her father, Thor, gives her when she leaves home at the end.So many of the film's most touching scenes are ones that include little to no dialogue, which is such an impressive feat and a combination of incredible cinematography, acting, music, and style. The brief trip that Marie takes with her mother to the ocean, with the waves crashing under an oppressive grey sky… Daniel meeting her mother and squeezing her hand as he says hello… Marie initially showing her father the inflamed, hairy patch on her chest and his expression that is a perfect mix of somber fear and understanding… Marie finding her mother in the bathtub, motionless under the still water… even the night club scene, when not many words were exchanged but the mood is one of wildness finally being let loose.Daniel is a perfect character, such a beacon in the dark. It shows her intuition in a way, since from the first time she laid eyes on him you know that she knew he was good, almost a primal instinct. He is insistent about her beauty and yet patient, he is steadfast, he is loyal, he is committed… even after he watches her murder a ship full of people, he holds her hand and says "I'm right here". He's the glimmer of hope, the proof that there is still good when everything else is going to sh*t.I loved her transforming during their sex scene — it was primal and animalistic while also being sexy and mesmerizing. I initially thought it may end with her killing him, some deep, not fully understood desire taking control of her, but I soon saw that he was alive and well and knew he was there to stay.They kept her transformation subtle, natural in an odd way. She doesn't turn into some kind of animatronic beast or an almost cartoonish caricature. She looks more human than animal, like some kind of hybrid or a sophisticatedly evolved wolf. Her small size makes her seem an unlikely predator — same with her mother — but we soon see it just makes her more nimble.I just loved every bit. I loved the strong feminist undertones. I loved Marie's character becoming more defiant and confident with every scene, leaving behind any fear or apprehension in favor of strength and a little bit of healthy rage. I loved the stunning cinematography and the music that perfectly enhanced every scene without distracting or overpowering. Amazing!

fearnomoshpit Personally, I liked this movie. It has a simple, raw sort of charm in a time when so many movies are being made with complex, twisting plots just for the sake of seeming "complex" and "deep", but closer inspection reveals that half the plot points don't make sense, don't tie together, seem completely extraneous or even outright contradict each other. This movie avoids those pitfalls by stripping the narrative development down to the bare bones of what's necessary to tell the story. I can understand why this would be somewhat jarring for modern viewers, given what I've previously said, but personally I found it a bit refreshing.One of my few complaints is that the dialogue does seem a little too sparse to the point of seeming unnatural at times, even for the creative direction the movie was taken in, but it makes up for it with an intensity I can't quite fully describe in many of its scenes. For example, in one scene Marie is spoon feeding her mother and misses her mouth, getting food on her face. At first it seems like it was because she's distracted by the TV and/or her own thoughts, but then she turns to her mother and starts intentionally smearing the food over her face until her father notices. He becomes irate, asking Marie what she's doing at which point Marie storms out of the room after angrily demanding to know what, exactly, is even wrong with her. This scene only has two lines of dialogue, but it perfectly captures Marie's frustration over being so in the dark regarding her family's situation and the fact that it seems like she may be starting to suffer from the same condition as her mother has been all these years, whatever that may be.That pretty much sums up the movie, actually... an intense but minimalist experience that substitutes raw energy for anything beyond the most basic exposition. Well, verbal exposition, anyway. There's plenty of non-verbal cues to tell you what's going on, but I guess that's what I would describe as the "energy" of it... looks exchanged between two characters, facial expressions, the pace of their stride. Things like that are put to extremely effective use to tell this tale as well as the movie manages to do so. Once again, it's probably not for everyone, especially viewers used to modern Hollywood flicks, but it's very well done (IMHO) and a refreshing movie experience.

view_and_review "When Animals Dream" is a pseudo Werewolf movie. The main character, Marie (Sonia Suhl) goes through some slow yet perturbing bodily changes and she doesn't know why. Her father wants to medicate her to prevent the inevitable but she'll have nothing of it.This film starts of slow in a good way. It takes time to set the mood and introduce the setting and the characters. The problem is that it continued to be slow even after we were aware of the direction of the movie.Although billed as a horror it was far more drama. They tried to make it too poetic; establishing mood with very little dialog and plenty of music, non-verbal communication and imagery. It maintained a somber mood much of the movie with only small glimpses of action.What was clear was that Marie was the victim in this and the townsfolk were the ill-intentioned oppressors. That's how they painted it but that's not how I viewed it.Marie is a small, docile, nubile young woman that still lives at home. She just wants to lead a normal life. Whatever happened to her, whatever she did as a result can hardly be blamed on her. Except that the world doesn't operate like that. People like safety and security even if from those without a heart to do wrong. Even though Marie was painted as and represented the underdog, she was nothing but.