Grimm (2003) poster
2003 · fairytale · dark · absurdist

Grimm

Directed by Alex van Warmerdam1h 43m2003
ElsewhereIMDb6.32kTMDB5.742
  • sombre
  • brisk
  • intense
  • surreal
  • cold
Movie DNA

Sombre, kinetic, measured fairytale / dark, surreal in texture. Nihilistic, intimate, cold, hand-scored across twelve axes of taste.

How every film is hand-scored →

One cold winter's day, Jacob and his sister Marie are abandoned in a wood by their out of work father. In his jacket Jacob finds a letter from their mother urging them to go to her brother in Spain. Once in Spain, it turns out that their uncle is dead. Marie meets Diego, a wealthy charming Spanish surgeon, and falls in love with him. Diego lives with his sick, domineering sister, Teresa. To Jacob's astonishment, Marie wants to marry Diego. Even after the wedding has taken place, jealous Jacob tries to get his sister away from Diego. When this doesn't succeed, Jacob starts to provoke his brother-in-law. It soon transpires that no one will go unpunished for this.

Our read · Grimm (2003) reads as a sombre, kinetic, surreal fairytale · dark · absurdist entry — measured in intensity, intimate in scope, cold in temperature, nihilistic in outlook, with a strong directorial signature. Hand-scored on twelve axes of taste — mood, pacing, weirdness, hope, stakes, humour, reality, density, warmth, auteur, intensity, and era — with a derived palette drawn from its dominant cinematography.

Where the cast leads
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The shape of Grimm

Tonight, this looks like

What watching it is actually like.

You want dark Dutch fairy tale subversion with twisted family dynamics.

ends unsettlingit leaves you shakena slow buildgrips by minute 20attention 4/5earns its lengthsubtitles: full
Date nightWith friendsSoloWith parentsKids around
Heads-upnuditysexual violencegraphic violence

Skip it tonightYou want light fantasy or can't handle dark sexual themes.

DNA · twelve axes

The reading.

Each axis is hand-scored — not derived from votes or genre averages. The marker shows where this film sits; the gradient fill uses the film's own cinematography palette.

Mood · HeavyCosy
Pacing · Slow-burnKinetic
Intensity · GentleExtreme
Weirdness · ConventionalSurreal
Hope · NihilisticRedemptive
Stakes · IntimateEpic
Humour · NoneBroad
Reality · GroundedFantastical
Density · SparseTwisty
Warmth · ColdTender
Auteur · TransparentSignature
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