Blancanieves

Writer/director Pablo Berger's slick transposition of the Snow White story to 1920s Spain is every bit as innovative and sincere in its homage to silent cinema as Michel Hazanavicius's The Artist. However, this dialogue-free melodrama owes more to the meticulous pastiches of Guy Maddin (Keyhole), as it reveals how ambitious nurse Maribel Verdú marries disabled bullfighter Daniel Giménez Cacho and tries to have his young daughter, Carmencita (played by Sofia Oria), murdered. Carmencita survives, but loses her memory, is taken in by a troupe of bullfighting dwarves and becomes a famous matador in her own right. As the adult Carmencita, Macarena Garcia is every bit as compelling as Verdú, as she grows close to dwarf leader Emilio Gavira. But, superb as the acting is, what makes this so entrancing is Berger's mastery of image and tone, and the wondrous combination of glistening monochrome cinematography, evocative production design, glorious costumes and an exceptional score from Alfonso de Villalonga.