[Reel-Reviews] Princess (4 stars)

A brother seeks revenge on his dead porn star sister's memory, and for the abusive life of her five year old daughter. But despite its harrowing premise, Princess is a fairy tale at heart.

Beautiully animated, disturbingly graphic and wonderfully banal, this 80 minute slice of fantasy takes you where no live action film about porn, murder, abuse and revenge ever could. One of the highlights for me was the limited use of live action scenes throughout the animation, with a couple of key characters only ever appearing in filmed footage shown in the cartoon world - a spuberb and subtle device for highlighting every aspect of fantasy at the film's centre.

Tartan Films have picked it up for distribution in the UK - do try and see it. Anders Morgenthaler, the director, said there were more people in Odeon West End Screen 1 last night than saw it on release in its native Denmark...

An animated Leon for the 21 century.


Film website, IMDB listing and technorati tag: Princess, London Film Festival