It had people running for the exits at the Venice Film Festival during its screening. It’s apparently a three hour journey through Hell. I must see it. Is there anyone here that has heard of it and/or seen it?
Have not seen it but if its faithful to the novel yeah people will be running for the exits. Read the novel its worth it.
Is it based on the book? I’d never consider the book filmable. I could see the filmmakers claiming an “artful” expression of torture porn..... like A Serbian Film is supposed to be.
169 minutes running time, subject matter will be tough to watch, I'll see this eventually if and when it hits the streaming networks. The Painted Bird (2019) In an effort to save their child from the massive extermination of Jews, a Jewish couple send their son to hide in the countryside with a relative somewhere in Eastern Europe. The little boy's aunt dies unexpectedly and the stray child is suddenly forced to hit the road and make it on his own in a hostile world governed by hate, fear and violence. Struggling for pure survival, he journeys a world run by locals and villagers driven by prejudice, superstition and their own rules. When the war ends, however, his fight for survival is replaced by another struggle - a struggle he may not even be aware of, a struggle with himself, a struggle for his own soul, and his future...
Pretty powerful book as I recall, but not a story I'd wish to revisit. I remember thinking, after the author killed himself, " That's not a surprize."
Check the release dates on IMDB - it hasn't premiered in the USA yet (Chicago Film Festival Oct 23). The Painted Bird (2019) - Release Info - IMDb
Meanwhile, you can listen to John Zorn's musical interpretation of the book in his cd The Painted Bird Quite impressive.
From what other posters have put up, the crow and him being buried up to his neck is just the beginning. It cumulates when the Cassocks come to town; which is hinted at, in the preview. Read the book and wonder how they pull it off, before seeing it.
The book was an astonishing, powerful read many years ago. One of those books I'm glad I read, but don't want to read again. Not something I'd enjoy seeing on the screen.
Today marks the premiere of the BluRay in Czech Republic and in Slovakia. Given the present situation with COVID-19 hopefully the movie will find its way to streaming platforms. I can’t wait to see it.
looking forward to it as well. Do you know if the bluray is being released in other countries in the future?
No idea, I hope. What is a bummer is a fact that even the one released in CZ and SK do not even have English subtitles, only Czech ones.
About thirty or so years ago I found this book at my local public library after it was recommended to me by a friend. I can't recall the specifics now, but I remember that there was one part of the book that was so unexpected and disturbing that as I was reading my jaw dropped. I think I actually gasped. If this moment of me reading were depicted in a graphic novel, I would be drawn with multiple exclamation points springing from my head. And as I was reading this part, I turned the page and I saw that a previous reader had penciled the words, "This is WRONG!!" in the side margin--echoing exactly what I was thinking at that very moment. It was somehow comforting to know that another person had the same reaction. Yet my takeaway from the book was that as shocking these moments of fiction were, they were designed to put perspective on the actual documented atrocities of the Holocaust. Nothing written in a novel could be more disturbing than the horrible reality of history.
Here is an article by a Variety's chief film critic . . . who gave up on the movie (VOD): Why I Walked Out of 'The Painted Bird' (Column) - Variety
Kyle Smith, the reviewer for The New Criterion and National Review, distinctly did not like it, calling it 'Torture Porn for Highbrows". Movie Review: ‘The Painted Bird’ Is Torture Porn for Highbrows | National Review
I just watched it on demand. To me, the "people running for the exits" reviews were off base. I've seen more disturbing films than this. That said, it is one brutality after another for awhile. About halfway through I was thinking it was just a waste of time. Near the end it sort of picked up, I liked it better. The ending was good. There was nothing about it to make me want to see it again. edit: I had the book for years, I just knew it to be controversial. I must have flipped through it a bit, but I never read it. Part of the controversy was that Jerzy Kozinsky claimed it was autobiographical at first, then backed off the claim.
