Like we'd been led to believe, a dark fairytale, and really, really good. It recognisably invokes long-familiar archetypes and symbols while possessing the clear hue of originality, and it's grim indeed but there's a thin golden thread running through it, too - like the way fairytales were, one imagines, before they were sanitised and made suitable for children. Feels like a dream, shading closely into nightmare territory - some of the imagery is nothing short of breathtaking. Well-woven with the 'real world' enforcement of tyranny in newly fascist Spain, too. And I think it would reveal new layers on rewatching.
(w/ Sid and Jade)
