Quick Reviews: Tale of Tales (2015)

After getting a glimpse of this one awhile back, I had to come back for the rest.  Let's see what is up with this French/Italian/U.S. Production...

The Film is made up of 3 mostly-separate Tales that exist in the same world.  Let's break it down (without SPOILERS)...

In Story 1, a desperate King and Queen (John C. Reilly and Salma Hayek!) take the advice of a Mystic and seek the heart of a Sea Monster in order to induce pregnancy.

After they get it (with some cost), Hayek does the only natural thing to get knocked up...

Yum.

She and the Maid who cooked it both get pregnant, leading to an issue with the two kids.

In Story 2, a horny King (Vincent Cassel) falls in love with a woman he only hears the voice of.

Unfortunately, the woman turns out to be one of these old Seamstresses.  Desperate to get him, the pair go through some strange tricks.  Will they succeed?

In Story 3, a King is distracted from the performance of his daughter by...a flea?

He takes it as a pet, but that is only the beginning of the Story.  By the end, it involves a Marriage Ritual, a monster and some Circus Folk.

I won't SPOIL any more of this though.  The End.

Weird, dark stuff.  The Film is put together in an interesting way.  You don't get Story 1 start to finish and then Story 2.  Instead, the Stories flow in unison.  You'll see a chunk of Story 1, some of Story 3, a little Story and so on.  The Stories are not all that connected though.  I can only imagine it had to do with Scheduling and Budgetary issues.  It would have been neat to see them more directly sync up- like having Hayek meet with Cassel, for example- but maybe we'll get that in Tale of Tales 2.  I'd call it Another Tale of Tales- feel free to use that one.  As far as this one goes, let's break them down.  Story 1 (with Hayek) is nice and dark.  The pay-off is not quite what you'd expect, which is nice.  Story 2 is strange and quirky, but takes a dark turn near the end.  Story 3 is a weird journey from strange to very, very dark.  If I had to pick one, I probably liked the overall Arc of Story 3 the best.  I do like the overall Effects best in Story 1.  Story 2 mostly serves a fun, quirky break between the other Stories, so there really isn't a 'weak link' here.  The Film is all over-the-place tone and story-wise, but it worked for me.  Now- who's hungry?

Damn weird and interesting stuff.  If you like dark Fairy Tales, this is a must-see.