Konterr Brilliant and touching

Grimossfer Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

Roy Hart If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

Arianna Moses Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

Efenstor I think it's incredibly hard to write any kind of full-scale review to Giorgino, merely because it's one of those viewer-dependent, complex, poetical and philosophical films that are impossible to be watched enjoying their visuals and their story while cracking their artistic core at the same time, yet there are several things which are quite certain and beyond any doubt about the movie for any man of art (which, I hope, I am).The first: it's a certain masterpiece, even of that kind of art that is able to stand the test of time; the second: it's one of those rare "dark" movies in which the darkness is poetic, even romantic, attractive and much more sad than depressing, just like many of the Pieter Brueghel the Elder or Caspar David Friedrich's paintings. As to the core of the movie, its artistic aspect, someone called it Kafkian though I don't agree with that hasty attitude because actually it's far beyond Kafka's misanthropic logic and much more like Edgar Poe's parables: dark and scary but through that touching the most gentle strings of our souls. Actually, on the poetic side (which is much more important here than the narrative), Giorgino is a tale about eternal peace and love which can be achieved solely through saving oneself's inner child or, to be more precise, the childhood of one's soul. It is no secret, that such childish people are usually branded as crazy or at least misfits by our society, ignoring the obvious fact that they all have a virtue all the other grown-ups have lost: the virtue of true love, the kind of love that is called a God's love by Christian scholars.Indeed, Giorgino may be called a very Christian movie, with "Be like children" (Mt 18:3) as it's real hidden tag-line, though the film never deals with any kind of moral and concentrates solely on the Christian philosophical aspects. Though I think Boutonnat was too harsh portraying "grown-ups" as some sort of demons, incarnated as wolves, trying to kill childhood in the rare survived hearts, but it's his point of view and he has a right to think so. While watching Giorgino don't try to look for hidden symbols and meanings (though there are some), better try to understand and learn from at least some of the fables Boutonnat had hidden in the twists of the movie plot.I have to admit that the movie greatly impressed me with excellent photography, especially I was happy to see the rational use of color filters, incredibly smooth and apposite editing, wonderful acting of all the actors and, of course, the atmospheric beauty of winter mountains which reminded me of the Brueghel's "Hunters in the Snow". Also, interestingly enough, one scene, where Death itself shown in the form an old woman with sunken black-ringed eyes, instantly reminded me of Pesta (Plague) by Theodor Kittelsen, the Norwegian painter who made a series of drawings to the story of how the black plague swept out the population of a small town in a mountain valley. Is it a simple coincidence?

davidjulien Although it has been a failure in movie theaters because mainly Mylene Farmer, one of the 3 top stars in France had not the first role. Fans had changed their mind after that and were waiting for it on DVD. When it has been released on DVD this year it has have a tremendous success ! The others fails was the slow pace and the incredible length (3h) at that time (1994) that have annoyed critics. But the melancholic story makes mandatory that slow pace and long time. The moral of the film is you cannot escape from the death you are destined for. It is the same theme than in the movie "Final Destination" and makes it a Gothic tale. The atmosphere is very melancholic.

melimelo34 So boring you'll fall asleep after the 20 first minutes. Sorry Mr Boutonnat, I do admire your work (all these beautiful "films" you directed such as "Tristana", "Sans logique" etc...) but here, the plot is extremely... vain ! Except the magnificent photography, everything appears dumb and there's no envy to know what will happen at these "medium" actors. Moreover, the dialogs are minimalists. The famous question "where are the children" is repeated so often it looks like a farce. Believe me, it's a pure waste of time (concerning the plot), and 3 hours is a long long time. Certainly the real reason of this box-office total mess !

jackvonb Giorgino can to some people look a bit long but it's one of rare real romantique adventure film. It could be compare to Docter Jivago with a bit of Sleepy Holow. You must see it.