Blancanieves (2012)

A friend of ours was recently complaining about too many films being nothing more than an adaptation of other works, lamenting the lack of original content. While I would certainly like to see more original films getting wide audiences, I'm glad that there are imaginative filmmakers looking to the past for inspiration. Without them, we wouldn't have the gorgeous masterpiece of a film that is Blancanieves.

Forget Snow White and the Huntsman (believe me, I wish I could). THIS is the Snow White retelling you need to see. And yes, it's silent. I don't want to compare it to The Artist, but this movie is much better. There's an art and a sense of magic to silent cinema that was lacking in The Artist, but Blancanieves has it in spades. This film tells the story in 1920s Spain, with the Snow White role being filled by a young female bullfighter. The seven dwarfs are a group of matadors, and the evil stepmother is a heartless (and I mean HEARTLESS) and fabulously wicked woman, played brilliantly by Maribel Verdú. The acting is all great, the visuals are absolutely lovely, and the story is familiar but filled with new life and unexpected turns. I can't praise this enough.

Check out the trailer below. It's a cinematic experience worth having! I laughed, I cried, I loved!