The Devil's Carnival | 211 words
I found myself oddly charmed by this short horror musical. The running time is just under an hour, and while there is an overarching plot, I believe it is better viewed as a series of vignettes. Following the deaths of three sinners, the movie shows what happens to each of them as they traverse the haunting carnival belonging to Lucifer, and inhabited by his dark followers.

Each sinner's story is told with the help of an Aesop's Fable, painting over the genuine horror with a bit of quirky fairy tale charm. (I, personally, was very fond of The Scorpion and the Frog's rendition.)

As far as horror goes, the movie was filmed beautifully, with delightfully grotesque characters and horrifying sets. However, it was not particularly scary - I would rank it somewhere within the television show Supernatural's range. It wouldn't be something I'd show to children under sixteen or so, but I'm certainly not going to lose any sleep over it.

The music was enchanting and eerie, an excellent counterpart to the movement playing out on the screen.

While I did enjoy watching this very much, it remains more of an artistic film, for me. I probably won't bother to watch it again, unless I'm actively showing it to someone else.


Kawa | 268 words
This movie was a tearjerker, and not really in a good way. Set in New Zealand, Kawariki is a married man with two children, and on the verge of taking his father's place as the head of the family, as is tradition according to their Maori culture. There's a problem, however - Kawariki is gay, and very deep in the closet, even as he visits gay bathhouses and has a boyfriend.

This movie was billed as a coming out story in the United States, and while technically that's true, I also think it's a little misleading. It's more of an angsty drama than anything, although the ending has a tiny ray of hope that things might get better for Kawariki and his family.

All of the actors did a magnificent job at being people. I felt for everyone in this movie, and couldn't choose a "side" to root for. The wife was not vilified, the children were not little cardboard cutouts to provide angst - they were all very real, and very emotional.

The scenery in this movie is stunningly gorgeous. To be honest, I would've watched it just for that (and Dean O'Gorman's dimples).

I very much enjoyed getting a look into a Maori family - and getting to hear such a beautiful language! That was a really interesting part of the film.

I'm not sure I would've watched this, if I had known, going in, that it was going to be a mostly depressing and heartbreaking movie. I'm glad I watched it, but I seriously doubt I'll watch it again. It would just make me cry.