Le Fil de la vie

Les strings ravissent avec la particularité d'un monde imaginaire. Les marionnettes perçoivent leurs "cordes" comme un lien avec quelque chose qui est au-dessus d'elles, qui leur donne la vie. Leur propre suicide est de couper leurs propres cordes, de tuer leur adversaire en coupant les leurs. Cela permet au film de présenter de belles parallèles existentielles avec la vie humaine. Le film est ancré dans un imposant design fantastique dans le style du Seigneur des Anneaux, il puise dans une caméra sophistiquée et est accompagné d'une magnifique musique symphonique. Mais il y a un gros MAIS - l'histoire elle-même est si simple et clichée qu'elle n'intéressera guère quelqu'un d'autre que les enfants. Et ces derniers ne pourront pas non plus apprécier toute cette beauté dans laquelle elle est enveloppée. (03/07/2005)

A Danish puppet fantasy? And why ever not? The puppets here don’t represent people - they are puppets through and through. Down to the strings controlling them. The concept for whole of their world was original and comprehensive. Some details of life are proof that the creators have ideas to spare. Even on the technical side, they managed to make the movie in a way that makes it up to standard in terms of production design. But what brought this movie down was the shoddy work by the screenwriters. You don’t often see something so unoriginal as Strings. And it doesn’t even have enough story to it to fill the ninety-minute running time. Which is a shame, because this could have turned into something completely different than we are used to in this genre. All that remains is to marvel at the puppeteers’ skills and ideas to spice up the day-to-day life of marionettes. Unfortunately, this isn’t enough to make it a fully-fledged movie. (01/09/2007)

Nothing is missing in terms of formality to make the film "Strings" perfect. Have you ever wanted to see a film where you can see the strings of the puppets? On one hand, this can be evidence that the filmmakers didn't have a lot of money, but on the other hand, it can be the intention of the creators to create something that hasn't been done before. So if you lean more towards the first option, know that the creators drew much more from the issue than one would expect. The puppet strings here are not just a curiosity, but a real part of the story. A strange fantasy world is built around the puppets. When I watched the film, I almost thought that this is exactly how a film based on Stephen King's book "Dragon Eyes" could be made. It would be incredibly fitting because I really like this story by King, and I also believe that "Strings" shares some elements with it. Unfortunately, in my opinion, it is the story itself that brings "Strings" down a bit. It's not that bad, the idea is interesting, and puppets simply suit fantasy, but I also think that it could have been done more interestingly, more vibrantly. However, it is also influenced by the choice of visual style, which rather refers to dark fantasy than to something like "The Hobbit". As the beginning of a series, the film would be more interesting and could build a very intriguing world with unique elements, but as a standalone film, it sometimes feels more like an experiment, an attempt to do things differently rather than a desire to encourage others to do things differently. It's a shame, especially since the film is a bit overlooked because it's European, instead of significantly influencing the works of other artists who could create films of similar nature. However, it is true that it is difficult to please a wide audience with such a film. And without a broad audience, it will be difficult to finance another similar film or sequel. More information: http://www.filmovy-denik.cz/2012/11/deja-vu-fred-claus-oko-dravce-penelope.html (02/03/2013)