Vinyan (2008)

Fabrice Du Welz is that kind of director who doesn't make a film every year. The best known so far directed by him was Calvaire (2004). A horror that really took you by the throat. Vinyan was his follow-up made 4 years later. It's a complete other flick, still, it delivers some dark moments. People are arguing about it in what genre you would classify it, sure, it's a drama but the overall atmosphere gives it a horror feeling too. Towards the end it do goes darker and darker and once the children take over the jungle it surely reminded me of Children Of The Corn.

As I said, it's the atmosphere that defines this flick. The opening sequence already gives you the feeling what you will get. And i mean before Jeanne Bellmer (Emmanuelle Béart) comes out of the water. The acting by her and Rufus Sewell is excellent. The score used is creepy too and adds toward the atmosphere. It isn't arty but it leans against it. The director surely knew what he wanted.

The drama lays in the fact that Jeanne has lost her child and wants to find him back against all the negative advise. So she travels with her husband to the country she's thinking they could find him, but they need help from the locals, but the deeper they go in the woods the worser it gets. The horror lays in the fact that once they are deep in the wood and are depending on some guys money takes over and people are dying for it. Naturally the locals doesn't like what's going on and are out for revenge. It's low on blood but the last scene is worth watching.

Excellent performances, great camera-work, good score, that's what makes it a special experience to watch. And for those who want to see Emmanuelle Béart in her nudies, she goes full frontal.

Gore 1/5 Nudity 1,5/5 Effects 2/5 Story 3/5 Comedy 0/5

Fmovies: Seems that many hated this mysterious chiller. Some thought it great, I quite liked it.

The premise was a little different to the usual, with added credibility of the tsunami link and thus a genuine, human emotion for the couple to search for their missing child. Such emotion can be justifiably overblown in movies - making psychological issues out of almost anything.

Yes, it looked good, very good. The attractive, sexy leads, (Emmanuelle Beart and Rufus Sewell, who still managed to remain mostly believable) the sultry landscapes and the monsoon weather, all adding to a great, eerie atmosphere. That it is compared, albeit only visually, to Apocalypse Now is to its credit, surely. Yes, it is ultimately mumbo- jumbo black magic nonsense but that hardly mattered, this is a moody chiller, not world class drama.

The final scenes are not only well done, but pretty chilling, too. Not out and out horror, but ones that make you momentarily stare in numbed disbelief. The whole is greatly helped by a hauntingly atmospheric score by François-Eudes Chanfrault.

No, I won't be searching for other films by director Fabrice du Welz but I've seen a lot worse movies in my time and for what it set out to do, was quite good.

I don't usually write reviews, but this film needs to be rescued from the grumpy hoi polloi who thought it was a horror flick and found it to be more than they could probably handle. This film is being badly mis-marketed.

This movie is exactly what it aspired to be. It conveyed something deep and meaningful. The question is, who would even want to understand such a thing? It is not my kind of movie and I had no idea what to expect when I rented it, but I kind of got sucked into it. It gave me bad dreams; it haunted me for a few days.

This film reminds me a little bit of Apocalypse Now, the photography and locations are stunning. There are scenes I will probably never be able to forget, and some I don't wish to. I think what makes this story so frightening is that everything that happens in it is plausible. That is hard to accept for some people.

From the opening scene, the imagery and sounds are stunning. To put it simply: This movie is about what it really, really means deep down for a family to lose their child; is their any sadder thing to contemplate? I don't expect everyone to even be capable of remaining receptive to this movie after the first half; it took work for me.

Viewers who wish to see darkness as art will be very pleased. For those who prefer glam decadence and prepackaged fluff, go watch Requiem For a Dream. For those who want nice, pretty stories, watch Rachel's Wedding.

Vinyan fmovies. The great mistake in Vinyan is to have tried to sell it as a classical horror movie from Hollywood, like The Ruines or The Grudge.

Don't expect any cheap thrills or funny Fx, it's a deep drama about an occidental woman in Asia, falling into madness after the loss of her child, with a post-tsunami background.

I can understand why some people are so disappointed, the subject is disturbing and unusual : how can you accept the loss of your child without a clear evidence of his death, and how can you express your own pain in a devastated country where most people are going through intense sufferings, violence and poverty ?

Even if Vinyan is not perfect, i really liked the very dark atmosphere that stay with you long after the end of the film. I'm not a huge fan of Emmanuelle Béart but I think she is quite convincing in this role, far from her usual characters.

Before watching "Vinyan",I read some comments of IMDb users. Most of all said that the movie is a crap, that nobody should waste one hour and a half of your life watching it. Well, I guess that I saw some other movie.

First of all, the comparisons with David Lynch's works are not fair. Vinyan takes a direction that Lynch never got on his works (an original approach to ghost stories). So, don't believe if you read that this movie is a bad copy of Lynch's works.

Fabrice du Welz shows again why he's a great director,a truly great horror director (how can some critics call Darren Lynn Bousman, Eli Roth an Rob Zombie the "horror directors of the new generation"?). The atmosphere of his craft is fabulous, he manages to make the tension and insanity grow slowly and steadily.

Another great achievement of Welz is documentary feel that he impressed with his direction. The locations of the movies are also great, big and mysterious jungles, like if they were abyss that you just enter, but never leaves them.

Emanuelle Béart,with his explosive beauty, and Rufus Sewell give great performances. The process of disintegration of their marriage showed by them as they delve into the jungle is awesome.

Finally, this is the kind of movie that, before you try to comprehend it, you must feel it.

If you like it, watch "Calvaire", Welz's previous work, a real horror gem.

In Phuket Island, Thailand, the architect Paul Bellmer (Rufus Sewell) and his wife Jeanne (Emmanuelle Béart) lost their son Joshua in a tsunami six months ago. Jeanne is disturbed and has not accepted the loss of her beloved son. While watching some footages from Myanmar (former Burma), Jeanne is convinced that a boy wearing a Manchester United shirt in a poor village is Joshua, and Paul accepts to seek out their son in the sea gypsies camp. They hire the trafficker Thaksin Gao (Petch Osathanugrah) and they travel in the boat of master Sonchai (Amporn Pankratok) to search Joshua. After a series of weird incidents, Sonchai leaves the trio in an abandoned village. They have to walk through the jungle where they face a journey to hell.

"Vinyan" is a disturbing journey to insanity visibly inspired in "Apocalypse Now" and with the same style of "Antichrist". The slow paced plot is supported by a good screenplay, stylish cinematography that keeps the environment of a nightmare and another outstanding performance of Emmanuelle Béart. I agree that this type of movie is not for everyone, but those that like original psychological horror stories without gore, explosions and special effects, will certainly enjoy "Vinyan". My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Espíritos Condenados" ("Doomed Spirits")