November (2017)

In a bleak Estonian village, the peasants survive with the help of witchcraft and folk magic, which is as much a part of everyday life as the tree bark they eat. The most notable magic takes the form of “kratts,” automatons made from wood, bone, straw, farm implements, and eventually even snow, and animated by a soul purchased from The Devil. These are used sometimes for basic work, but as often to steal from each other. Among these unsavory villagers is Liina, a young and pretty girl who is besotted with Hans, who is the least repulsive of the local males. But Hans is obsessed by the Baroness, the daughter of the feeble German landowners who are constantly being robbed by their servants. Her attempts to win him with magic over several months are complicated by ghosts, the plague, lycanthropy, a poetic snowman, and a very angry Devil.

It doesn’t get much weirder than this art house surrealistic fairytale. After a brief scene of a wolf (more likely werewolf) in the snow, we’re introduced to a three-legged creation, with blades for hands (or feet) and a mounted cow’s skull, that breaks into a barn, steals a calf, and then turns into a helicopter. By the time the dead, that have dropped by for dinner and a sauna, have turned into giant chickens, it all seems to fit together. It doesn’t make sense exactly, but it fits.

Based on a hugely successful Estonian novel, the film keeps many of the comic elements, but on the whole takes a more dour tone. There’s some laughs to be had, often connected to cruelty. More often it is tense. The B&W photography is beautiful, but that’s a beautiful look at a wretched place, filled with broken buildings and unsanitary people. There’s no feeling of hope, which is driven home by the grim score. As these people cheat and steal from each other, my question is why they bother. I’d just embrace the plague, which comes first as a beautiful girl, then a goat, and finally a pig.

This may all sound dreary, but it is gorgeous and captivating. Even though you are trudging along in the muck, the muck is shiny and there’s always something new. There’s a sleepwalking girl who must be saved, by her father, lover, and enemy. There’s multiple trips to a crossroads to make deals with the devil. There’s a priest lead around on a leash, peasants spitting out Eucharist wafers to make holy arrows, hidden treasure, and men with their souls ripped out. It’s all crazy, and slow, but never boring. Poetic, twisted, and perplexing, if you really mean it when you say, “Hollywood keeps making the same stuff; I want something different” then I’ve got a movie for you.