The Wild Hunt (2009)
A MODERN MEDIEVAL SAGA, The Wild Hunt tells the story of Erik Magnusson, a young man who decides to follow his estranged girlfriend Evelyn into a medieval re-enactment game when he discovers that she has been seduced by one of the players. As the down-to-earth Erik treks deeper into the game in search of his love, he inadvertently disrupts the delicate balance of the make believe fantasy-land. Passions are unleashed. Rules are broken. Reality and fantasy collide. The good-hearted game turns into a tragedy of mythic proportion... Capturing the culture of costume play and the potentially dangerous intersection of real and made-up worlds, The Wild Hunt is a timely and potent comment on the consuming nature of adopting another identity, even within a game, and the modern yearning for ritual.
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Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!
The Age of Commercialism
This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.
A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.
A situation that at the beginning verges from ridiculous to pathetic turns into a horrible study on human nature. Some reviewers called out the acting as bad. In fact, they couldn't be further from the truth. It has been really good years since I've seen such a realistic interpretation of human behavior. I recognized the cringe, though: when faced with people doing cowardly, inept, psychotic, stupid acts we try to distance away from them and pretend it doesn't happen. We want Iron Men protected by their smarts and their money and their suits saving the world while mouthing funny quips. This is not that kind of movie.I have tried to find the flaw in this film, something that would make me rate it less than perfect, and the only thing I could find is that the movie is low budget, which of course, does not count. I have to repeat it: the attention to realistic human behavior is stunning. No one is perfect, no one is as they pretend even to themselves to be. When the Wild Hunt starts, they are all faced with their worst nightmare: their real selves.Of course a subject like this made me remember Lord of the Flies, another fantastic study of real people breaking up and emerging from behind their masks. This is almost better! Watch this!
I was pretty sceptical at the beginning - having no idea what the movie was about, but I understood the humour within 10 minutes. The music also seemed queer at the start, but it finally sets the perfect tone for this movie. I have always been curious about live action role-playing game, I wondered how people can enter their role and leave the outer world behind, separating fantasy from real life. In this movie, you immerse in this universe perfectly. It was really interesting to see characters getting more and more confused between real life and fantasy, especially when fantasy gets real... Now I just hope every LARP week-end doesn't end like this. Congratulations to the wardrobe team on this, you could never imagine they produced this on a low budget. Lightyears from cheap Braveheart rags. DOP is A1, and the locations are perfect. All actors did a great job. What more to say? Watch it now!
I gave this movie a 8 out of 10 which in my book is a good movie. If this movie were rated along the budget then it would have a gazillion. I am surprised that they could make such a good quality movie for 300,000 CAD. I did not think it was possible.The flaws of this movie is that some of the story line is missing to you. A big budget movie would have flashbacks or some other mechanisms to fill in the blanks. For a low budget movie like this flashbacks or time filling pieces just add to the costs.What I appreciated is its originality of story line. There are definite some surprises along the way where I was thinking, "ok now you surprised me." I also appreciated that this movie is pure Quebec Canadiana, though I wonder what the original language was? I am in Switzerland and I could only listen to the German track.This movie is definitely something for movie buffs as you will appreciate the details and story nuances.
I had the chance to see The Wild Hunt at TIFF in 2009. It was no surprise to later hear it had won the Best Canadian First Feature Film prize- it was one of the best and most surprising films I saw at the festival.The Wild Hunt's premise is a young man naively entering a live-action role play (LARP) weekend in pursuit of his wayward girlfriend. There's some initial comedy in the fish-out-of-water concept, but real-life LARP aficionados needn't fear ridicule; the comedy is in the clash, not at the expense of players. The film in many ways actually celebrates this type of gaming and in more than a few instances defends it from common taunts.From a simple beginning the story grows to a climax of epic proportions, bringing to mind Shakespearean levels of drama and tragedy. The Wild Hunt is an intelligent and impassioned exploration of fantasy and escapism, desire and obsession. Yet through all of this the film remains grounded in it's characters. One of the great strengths of the film is the realism and complexity at the heart of each role. You won't find any one-dimensional characters here. Instead we have very real people struggling with an escalating series of events, and the games quickly lose their innocence as people lose control.The Wild Hunt is a truly remarkable film. The exploration of a blurring line between fantasy and reality is chilling, the performances are excellent, and from a technical standpoint it's equally well done. This is a film that will stay with you long after you leave the theatre- not only is it engaging to watch, but it leaves you with much to contemplate.