Customer Reviews

Strings

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I promise you, you have never seen anything like this.

The story is a very good fantasy, a young king coming of age among evil advisors. The presentation is marionettes, some of the most wonderful I've ever seen. Each one is beautifully crafted and articulated, and each is a distinct personality. The puppeteering is superb. The figures move beautifully well, even in unusual actions like swimming. They move well even when they close in with each other so much that their strings risk tangling.

What makes this movie unique is the puppets' awareness that they are puppets. The opening scene is a suicide in which one character cuts his own head-strings. Sword-fights center on cutting the other character's strings. Characters are fully aware that they are carved from wood, and subject to the kinds of decay that wood can experience. Even birth consists of a carved, wooden doll, brought to life when - well, you'll have to see for yourself. There's no need for suspension of disbelief, at least at this level: these puppets are clearly and consciously puppets.

All of which leaves a strangely involuted question of free will. The characters all act because of their own impulses, but move only when their strings move them. What connects that will to that motion? I wonder whether this is the sense that puppeteers sometimes get, when the painted wooden characters seem to develop personalities of their own.

There is nothing like "Strings." It's a kid-safe story, but you don't have be a kid to be fascinated.

//wiredweird

I guarantee you have never seen anything like this.

This is an epic fairy tale, with kings and princesses and swordfights and quests and romance and betrayal and death and...

...marionettes?

Yup. The whole movie is acted by marionettes with limited facial movement, but seemingly infinite physical limitations.

I was startled by the opening sequence. An elderly king sits over his desk, in the rain, writing a suicide letter to his son. My first thought was that it was a bit over-dramatic to have "rain" on the inside of his castle, but I went with it. As I carefully followed along to his voice-over, about the two warring civilizations and the ability of his son to unify the country, I saw this king raise his sword over his head...

...and cut his head-string. Dead.

I sat goggle-eyed for the next 90 minutes, seeing things I really couldn't believe.

Beautiful shots of strings ascending to the heavens...(I thought, so THAT'S why it was raining indoors. There are no ceilings)...swordfights with warriors aiming for the strings...marionette SURGERY that was horrifying to me, a surgeon!

The plot in and of itself is a fairly standard one: nothing new if you've ever read a classic fairy tale or your basic Shakespeare.

But the addition of these...these "strings'...enables the filmmakers to comment on the nature of God, the connectivity between one another, the fragility of life...even the mischief between two children.

...the birth scene was surprisingly touching. As was a death scene involving a frail old man. The way they re-interpret life and death with "string" theory is simply beautiful.

There is imagination and creativity in this film at a level I don't think I've ever seen. We're talking Peter Jackson/Steven Spielberg-type cinematic creativity, but also with ingenious storytelling and astonishing visuals.

And as you'd expect, the technical puppetry here is beyond belief. The way they get the tilt of a head or a shrug of a shoulder just right. It's amazing. Couple with vocal work by Sir Derek Jacobi, Catherine McCormack and others, you soon stop noticing that the marionettes' mouths do not move. You get THAT carried away with this.

The final scene was poetic in its' simplicity and beauty.

Please check out this movie. It will be SO worth your time.

It was my privilege to see this movie at this year's National Puppetry Festival in Saint Paul, MN. Being a marionette puppeteer myself, the movement that these puppets were able to accomplish astonished me. It is very apparent that Bernd Ogrodnik and the other skilled puppeteers on this movie were extremely passionate about their work. I also found the symbolism and the story interesting, as well. I don't recommend this movie for children, however...it was definitely created for adults. If you are a marionette enthusiast or you're looking for an escape from the usual boring movie experience, watch this movie. It is well worth it.

"Strings" is quite a unique and intersting movie going experience. This just happens to be one of those movies I had never heard of before that I ran across doing research, and decided to give it a shot. My biggest problem with "Strings" is that the puppets do not move their mouths, which made it a little hard to follow the dialogue as it switched back and forth between characters. Once your able to get past that - this is really a beautiful little film.

A little over-dramatic but with some pretty high production values, "Strings" is unlike no movie you have seen before.
The cinematography, voice overs, and set designs are well done and very pleasing to watch and to listen to all throughout.

One thing I enjoyed about "Strings" was the how the actual strings were incorporated in the movie. There is no effort to hide them. In fact, the strings themselves are part of each characters actual being, reaching all the way up in to the sky with the "head" string being the strongest and most valuable. Cut the head string, and your dead! Get a little to playful, and you might get tangled and need some help getting undone! Interesting little concept.

Strings is a fantasy story about a King who commits suicide, leaving the throne to his son. When his son is lead to believe by his evil uncle that some outside rebels are responsible for his death, he seeks out to find them and avenge his father. In the process he goes on a magical journey, learning about life, love, war, and the fact that people and things aren't always quite what they seem.

"Strings" is a film that stands on its own two feet- apart from anything else out there. All in all, it's a very impressive piece of work- and a good family oriented film.

Recommended!

Strings is the height of creativity. The movie is visually stunning and beautifully made. It's not just for marionette enthusiasts but is truly enjoyable for everyone!

Every now and again I find a movie that is so far off the charts different, that I cant help but love it. Strings is easily the most intriguing, imaginative, and alternative movie I have ever sceen! The best way to describe it is the serious storyline of Gladiator, only the puppets from Team America World Police....not a joke. The story itself is captivating, the way they incorporate all of the puppets is just mind blowing. This Movie is easily my top 10 of all time!

All I can say is wow! the puppetry on this DVD is just beautiful! great story line. I thought is was just beautiful!

This gem should be appreciated for its beauty and technical feat. I have never seen anything quite like this before and I am proud to have it in my collection.

Other reviewers have commented on how wonderful this film is and they're right. That you can take a movie starring marionettes and direct them in such a way that the audience feels for them as they would characters in any live action movie is a remarkable feat. Thanks to great voice over work by notable actors, these puppets become true characters.

The story is decent but not great. Somewhat Shakespearean in its content, it involves the death of a king by his own hand with the need to get a message to his son to take up the reins and right a terrible wrong done to another race of people. Unfortunately the message never gets to the son but is instead intercepted by the king's 2nd in command who now is going to further the wrongdoing.

It is directed like a regular, live action movie with camera angles, close-ups, nifty lighting, great sets and near seamless editing. The characters all have unique faces and voices furthering the sense that you are watching real people. What really caps things off is the fact that these characters know they are attached to strings and that these strings are their life and death. One scene depicting the change of a piece of wood carved like a child into the actual coming to life of that child through the attaching of the strings is at once eerie and touching.

I don't know that I'd go back and watch this again merely because the story could have been better, but the achievement is great and should be seen by everyone with a true love of film.

The pure and courageous young hero outshines the devious and evil old villain and thus secures happily-ever-after with the beautiful and trusting young princess. Have you heard this before?

So, granting that this is remarkably like the plot of the original STAR WARS and a quadrillion other folk tales, story books, plays, musicals, novels, films, and animated works, I won't suggest you see this film for the story line.

Even the message -- that we are all puppets manipulated by distant, unseen hands... marionettes brought to a dead halt if our strings are cut -- is hardly new.

But DO see STRINGS, however predictable the plot and message may be, because the visual life of this piece is rich and dynamic. Enjoy this film for what it does to your eyes. Appreciate some excellent world design.